OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says temporary foreign workers are taking jobs from young Canadians while youth unemployment is high.
Poilievre made the comment today during a press conference in Charlottetown, several days after the government released mid-year immigration data.
On Monday, Poilievre said on social media the government had exceeded caps it set for temporary worker visas, and accused the government of being “out of control” on immigration.
For the first time last year, Canada put limits on how many temporary foreign workers it will admit as the government grappled with a housing affordability crisis driven in part by rapid population growth.
The federal data shows Canada targeted issuing 82,000 visas for temporary foreign workers this year but has already issued 105,000.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Lena Diab says there was a significant drop in the number of temporary foreign workers coming to Canada in the first six months of this year, falling to 119,000 from more than 245,000 in 2024.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 27, 2025.
