The “policy” part of a bad immigration policy can be fixed.
The government can, for example, announce a cap on international study permits when it becomes clear that Canada can’t accommodate the 1,028,850 international students it accepted in 2023. It can scale back the number of hours international students are allowed to work off-campus when students who are working close to 40 hours a week are in effect temporary foreign workers with the wrong papers. It can announce a six-month moratorium on applications for some low-wage temporary foreign workers in Montreal when there is a by-election coming up in the city. Wait – no, I meant to say: when unemployment is up in Quebec. Yes, that’s it.
