Toronto 4 Sep 2025 : The Canadian government is reviewing its temporary foreign worker programme (TFW) but will not abolish, after it came under attack from the opposition on the issue.
Ahead of a Cabinet planning meeting in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) on Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “It’s part of what we are reviewing.”
The review is of the immigration system and Carney said that “overall” the level “will decline from around seven per cent to date to around five per cent several years from now”.
He said the TFW programme, which has faced criticism over misuse and fraud, still had a “role”.
“We can’t just erase this programme but we can definitely improve it,” he said.
In fact, he stressed that for Canadian businesses access to the programme was the number two issue after tariffs imposed by the Administration of US President Donald Trump.
Earlier in the day, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre called for the TFW programme to be scrapped. “Prime Minister Carney has failed to meet his own already excessive immigration targets and now he’s on track to issue the highest number of TFW permits ever in a single year,” Poilievre said, during an event in Mississauga.
The Conservative Party said Canada was “still bringing in record amounts of predominantly low-skilled foreign labour” even while youth employment was at its lowest in more than a quarter-century (outside the pandemic), and an oversaturated job market continued to suppress wages.
It said the government issued 105,000 new TFW permits in the first six months of 2025 alone. “Despite a promised cap of 82,000, the Liberals are on track to issue the most TFW permits ever,” the release said.
With less than two weeks to go before Poilievre returns to the House of Commons and, for the first time, faces off against Carney, his party has made immigration, cost of living and crime signature issues.
Other than the TFW programme, for workers under the International Mobility Programme (IMP), the promised cap was 285,000 while those admitted numbered 302,000 in the first six months of 2025.
In response, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said, “We have committed to returning immigration to sustainable levels, including reducing Canada’s temporary population to less than 5%.”
IRCC stated that the figures in its datasets were for new visas and also renewals and the former category only totalled 33,722 or 42% of the annual target.
With anti-immigration sentiment again rising in the country, verging on xenophobia, the continued high levels of temporary workers being admitted has become an emotive wedge issue when it comes to public opinion.
In the first six months this year, Indians secured 94,010 of the total 302,280 work permits issued under IMP. In 2024, they accounted for 209,065 out of 715,870, a decline from 2023 when the corresponding figures were 250,785 and 761,600. Prior to immigration policies of then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking effect in 2015, 21,635 Indian citizens entered the country under the programme out of a total of 186,005.
As for the temporary foreign workers programme, 16,560 Indians received visas out of a total of 105,195. In 2024, Indians accounted for 39,695 out of 191,270 and 28,120 out of 183,275 in 2023. In 2015, Indians were issued just 1955 such work permits out of 72,960.
IRCC has said that the measures implemented have resulted in “125,903 fewer new temporary workers arriving in Canada between January and June 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.”
The government is expected its immigration for the years ahead this fall and will be under pressure to reduce the intake of newcomers.
Summary :
Canadian Finance Minister Mark Carney confirmed the temporary foreign worker programme is under review for improvements, but assured it will not be scrapped, easing migrant workers’ concerns.