Commentary
On all sides of the aisle, Canada’s political class has started to acknowledge that immigration plays a role in this country’s housing woes.
While this admission is a good initial starting point, restoring housing affordability will only begin in earnest when we grapple with how unsustainable Canada’s immigration levels have been of late. When you dig into the numbers, it becomes clear that major immigration reform is needed that goes beyond the measures already put in place by the federal government.
A new report from the Aristotle Foundation reveals the staggering reality of the significant role that unsustainable immigration levels have played in Canada’s housing crisis throughout the last decade. In 2000, the percentage of Canada’s population composed of non-citizens (international students, foreign workers, permanent residents, and asylum seekers) was 2.1 percent, rising gradually to 3.5 percent in 2015. From there, it rose rapidly to 9.1 percent in 2023….