Some Islanders say newcomers 'being cut loose' by federal immigration changes

Some people on Prince Edward Island say newcomers are "being cut loose" by the federal government's most recent reduction in immigration targets. 

Last week, Ottawa announced it is slashing the projected number of new permanent residents from 485,000 to 395,000 in 2025, with further cuts to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

Under the previous plan released last November, Canada was to admit about 500,000 people in both 2025 and 2026.

The feds say the new plan will stabilize population growth and relieve pressure on the housing market. 

But to Josie Baker, executive director of P.E.I.'s PEERS Alliance, the federal government is talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to the rights of a vulnerable migrant population.

"We have seen migrant workers and also international students framed as both victims and somehow responsible for the housing crisis," said Baker, who signed an open letter on behalf of the alliance against the cut to immigration levels. 

"There is a framing of restricting the folks who have been bolstering our economy, bolstering our food industry, bolstering many of the lower-paying jobs in our society… and these folks are now kind of being cut loose."

The new plan will cause a 0.2 per cent population decline over the next two years, according to the federal government. It added the plan will also "reduce the housing supply gap by approximately 670,000 units" over the next few years.

In March, Statistics Canada reported that the country's population grew faster in 2023 than it has at any time since the 1950s.

Statistics Canada said 97.6 per cent of that growth was the result of immigration, with just under 472,000 immigrants settling in the country last year and the number of temporary residents — mostly foreign workers — rising by around 805,000.

The City of Summerside has seen that growth first hand over the past decade or so. 

Mayor Dan Kutcher said the population boom does present problems for municipalities like his, but there are also many positives to immigration. 

"I don't think anyone's going to be able to sustain the type of growth that we've had here in the last seven to nine years … continuously. That would just be impossible," Kutcher said Sunday on CBC's Rosemary Barton Live. 

"But at the same time, that growth has filled some really big missing gaps in our community. It's certainly created some wonderful, fantastic opportunities."