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Prime Minister Mark Carney makes a live address on Canada's plan to build a stronger economy at the University of Ottawa on Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Federal officials not sure when immigration levels plan is coming

By The Canadian Press

Published 10:48 PDT, Wed October 29, 2025

Last Updated: 12:50 PDT, Wed October 29, 2025

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While Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada's "new immigration plan" will be in the federal budget next week, immigration department officials don't know if that includes the annual levels plan outlining how many newcomers Ottawa intends to admit for the next year.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act says the immigration levels plan must be tabled every year by Nov. 1. It allows for an additional 30 days if Parliament is not sitting, however. The deadline falls on a Saturday this year and Parliament does not typically sit on weekends.

Daniel Bernhard, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said the immigration department has given no indication of when the plan will be tabled.

"There seems to be a lot of uncertainty around funding for settlement services, but also just about the number of immigrants, both permanent and temporary, that Canada will accept in the coming year," Bernhard told The Canadian Press.

A government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the internal deliberations, said it's not clear when the immigration levels plan will be released.

Carney has said the government is committed to getting immigration "under control" and plans to reduce the number of temporary residents from about seven per cent of the population to five per cent by the end of 2026.

The Canadian Press has reached out to Immigration Minister Lena Diab's office for a media statement but has not yet received a response.

Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner said she asked the deputy immigration minister when the levels plan will be tabled during an Oct. 21 citizenship and immigration committee meeting.

"The fact that the deputy minister would not even provide that information to parliamentarians so close to the date that they're supposed to release it makes me wonder why they are hiding this information," Rempel Garner said in a phone interview.

"We need data on how many people the Liberals are going to let in if we, as parliamentarians, are going to question the government on whether or not they have the right infrastructure to support integration of newcomers into Canada's economic and social fabric."

Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, the Bloc Québécois' MP on the immigration committee, said he wonders if the uncertainty is linked to political sensitivity as public opinion on the number of immigrants coming to Canada sours.

"It's a problem for us, because how can you have a conversation on immigration if you don't have the vision of the government about the levels? It's quite impossible right now," he said.

"A majority of Canadians and Quebecers think that the levels are too high. So I think that's the problem. It's not more complicated than that."

Bernhard said most people receiving permanent residency are already in Canada, usually on either a work or study permit. He said the system needs certainty in order to attract global talent to the workforce.

"If we want to convince the world's A-team to come over here and bet their futures on Canada and play for our team, we need to make it clear that we know what we're doing and that our immigration policy is thought through and steady and not just constantly vacillating based on political feelings," he said.

– David Baxter, The Canadian Press