OTTAWA — Former immigration minister Marc Miller says that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is stirring up “anti-immigrant sentiments” with his recent calls to scrap the temporary foreign worker program.
Yesterday, Poilievre told a press conference in Brampton, Ont., that high rates of immigration in recent years are the reason “our youth can’t find jobs or homes.”
Speaking at the Liberal caucus retreat in Edmonton, Miller says that the program shouldn’t be scrapped but needs to be changed to tackle such problems as permit fraud.
He adds that the government is working to reduce the number of temporary residents from around seven per cent of the total population to five per cent in 2027.
Poilievre says immigrants are not responsible for housing and employment challenges and blames the government for admitting “too many too fast.”
Premiers are also entering the debate, with B.C. Premier David Eby saying the temporary worker program needs to be terminated or reformed, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford claiming young people aren’t looking hard enough for work.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.
David Baxter, The Canadian Press
