On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a major reduction in the number of permanent residents the country will admit over the next three years, saying his government had not gotten the balance between labour needs and population growth “quite right.”

In 2025 and 2026, the government had initially planned to bring in 500,000 permanent residents – now, they’ve set a target of 395,000 and 380,000, respectively. In 2027, that target is 365,000 permanent residents. This signifies a major policy reversal for the Trudeau government – and would mean that Canada’s net population is projected to decline by 0.2 per cent per year over the next two years.

Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, joins us to discuss why the government is cutting Canada’s immigration targets, and why he says Canadians should trust the Liberals to fix the problem.

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