Conservatives Lead on Canada Immigration Policy Despite Rising Liberal…
This marks a shift from earlier in 2025, when Liberal support on immigration had dropped to historic lows following the government's announcement of reduced permanent residence targets for 2025-2027. The Liberals cut the 2025 target to 395,000 new permanent residents, down from 485,000 in 2024, citing housing pressures and labor market integration challenges. Public opinion at that time favored the Conservatives' calls for further reductions and stricter enforcement measures.
The Conservative platform emphasizes tying immigration levels directly to housing supply, healthcare capacity, and infrastructure readiness. Party leader Pierre Poilievre has proposed capping annual immigration at levels that align with new housing starts and has called for prioritizing economic immigrants with job offers in high-demand sectors. The Liberals, meanwhile, have defended their revised targets as balanced, arguing they maintain Canada's economic competitiveness while addressing integration concerns raised by provinces and municipalities.
"Canadians want an immigration system that works," the report notes, summarizing sentiment across multiple surveys conducted in early 2026.
The polling suggests voters remain divided along regional lines. Alberta and Saskatchewan respondents show stronger support for Conservative immigration policies, while Ontario and British Columbia voters are more evenly split. Quebec, which controls much of its own immigration selection through the Quebec Immigrant Investor Program and other provincial streams, shows distinct preferences that don't align neatly with either federal party's platform.
The data also indicates that newcomers to Canada—permanent residents who arrived within the past five years—express higher confidence in Liberal immigration policies than the general population. This group, which includes approximately 1.8 million people eligible to vote in the next federal election, represents a significant electoral bloc in key ridings across the Greater Toronto Area, Metro Vancouver, and Montreal.
For prospective immigrants monitoring Canadian policy debates, the takeaway is that immigration levels and program priorities remain subject to political change. Applicants with Express Entry profiles or pending provincial nominee applications should track party platforms closely as the election approaches, as shifts in government could alter processing priorities, eligibility criteria for economic programs, and the overall number of invitations issued through federal and provincial streams. Those considering applying should review current IRCC processing times and program requirements on canada.ca rather than waiting for post-election policy clarity.