Federal officials are not sure when immigration levels plan is coming

By Canadian Press on October 29, 2025.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said “Canada’s new immigration plan” will be in the federal budget next week, but immigration department officials don’t know if that includes the annual levels plan outlining how many newcomers Canada intends to admit for the next year.

The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act says the immigration levels plan must be tabled every year, on or before Nov. 1. However it allows for an additional 30 days if Parliament is not sitting. The deadline falls on a Saturday this year and Parliament does not typically sit on weekends.

Daniel Bernhard, CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, said the immigration department has given no indication when it will be tabled.

“There seems to be a lot of uncertainty around funding for settlement services, but also just about the number of immigrants, both permanent and temporary, that Canada will accept in the coming year,” Bernhard said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

A government official, not authorized to speak publicly about the internal deliberations, said it’s not clear when the immigration levels plan will be released.

Carney has said the government is committed to getting immigration “under control” and plans to reduce the number of temporary residents from about seven per cent of the population to five per cent by the end of 2026.

The Canadian Press has reached out to Immigration Minister Lena Diab’s office for a media statement but has not yet received a response.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 29, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press