Canada’s temporary resident population declines for the first time in 3 years

Corrective action working, although Skuterud notes not enough:

The number of temporary residents in Canada has declined for the first time in three years, in the wake of a series of policy changes introduced by Ottawa last year to reduce immigration levels.

New data from Statistics Canada shows that there were roughly 30,000 fewer non-permanent residents in the country as of Jan. 1, 2025, compared to Oct. 1, 2024.

The total number of non-permanent residents stood at just over three million people, or 7.3 per cent of the population, down from 7.4 per cent the previous quarter.

The decrease in the number of temporary residents is causing overall population growth to slow. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the population grew by 0.2 per cent to roughly 41.5 million people, the slowest rate of growth since late 2020, when many border restrictions were in place because of the pandemic.

Canada’s population is still increasing, just not at the rate it did in 2022 and 2023….

Achieving Ottawa’s 5-per-cent non-permanent resident target is less realistic now than a year ago, according to Mikal Skuterud, an economist at the University of Waterloo. Prof. Skuterud estimates that in order to meet the target, the number of temporary residents will have to decline by almost 32 per cent in two years.

If that happens, the Canadian population will subsequently decline by 0.4 per cent over two years, Prof. Skuterud’s calculations show….

Source: Canada’s temporary resident population declines for the first time in 3 years