Comparing Immigration Policy Promises in the 2025 Federal Election

Immigration is an area over which the federal government has jurisdiction, and many readers of this guide are already familiar with the topic. Let’s take a look at what each federal party said during and before the 2025 federal election to understand how federal politics influence Canada’s immigration system.

Liberal Party and Conservative Party

In the 2025 federal election, the Liberal Party won a minority government. However, just a few months prior, most polls projected a Conservative victory¹.

To understand how immigration policy could have taken a different path depending on which party formed government, here’s a comparison of what the Liberals and Conservatives said about immigration policy.

This comparison is based on platform summaries from CBC², Radio-Canada³, and CTV News⁴, as well as each party’s official platform⁵ ⁶ and statements made by party leaders during and shortly before the election.

Category	Liberal	Conservative
Annual immigration target (PR)	Maintain current caps, then 1% of population beyond 2027 (2025:395K⁷, 2026:380K⁷, 2027:365K⁷, 2028-: 412K+⁸)	200,000-250,000⁹
Permanent Residents	• Maintain caps on immigration until it determines Canada has the capacity to receive more newcomers² • Limit immigration until it returns to a “sustainable trend” and pre-pandemic level³ • Stabilize permanent resident admissions at less than 1% of Canada’s population annually beyond 2027³ ⁴ ⁵ • Focus on attracting top global talent that will drive economic growth and prosperity⁵ • Allow for the reunification of families⁵	• Keep the rate of population growth below the rate of housing growth, job growth, and health care accessibility² ³ ⁴ ⁶ • Use a mathematical formula to choose immigration targets ³ • Limit permanent immigration to a “sustainable rate similar to the levels under the Harper government.”⁴ ⁶ • Reject the radical Liberal Century Initiative ⁶
Temporary Residents	• Capping the total number of temporary workers and international students to less than 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027⁴ ⁵	• Reduce the number of non-permanent residents in Quebec² • Grant the province more powers to choose temporary immigrants² • Dramatically reduce the number of temporary foreign workers and foreign students⁴
Economic Immigration	• Attract the best talent in the world to build our economy⁵ • Attracting highly skilled talent from the United States⁵ • Work with provinces and territories to streamline and speed up recognition of foreign credentials and international professional experience⁵	• Require union LMIA pre-checks⁶
International Students		• Require criminal background checks for individuals entering Canada on a student permit.⁴ ⁶
Refugees and Asylum seekers	• Maintaining Canada’s global leadership in prioritizing the world’s most vulnerable, including human rights defenders and refugees⁵ • Support legal aid for asylum seekers and refugees⁵	• Cap the number of asylum seekers Canada receives² • Process refugee claims faster on a last-in, first-out basis and implement departure tracking⁶
Enforcement	• Move forward with a credible and fair immigration system that removes failed claimants once due process has been accorded⁵ • Strengthen the integrity of the border⁵	• Crack down on fraud linked to international students and temporary workers² ⁴ • Expand and speed up removals for any criminal activity on a visitor permit⁴ ⁶
Other	• Establish a 12% target for Francophone immigration outside of Quebec by 2029³ ⁵ • Work towards a fairer and faster process and enhance service delivery for applicants⁵ • Continue to respect that immigration, both permanent and temporary, is a shared responsibility with the Government of Quebec.⁵ • Strengthen federal, provincial, and territorial collaboration⁵

Other Parties

Let’s briefly review what other federal parties proposed regarding immigration. These points are also drawn from platform comparison pages by CBC, Radio-Canada, and CTV News.

While these parties were not projected to form government, they can still influence policy through their presence in Parliament.

Bloc Québécois

Reduce immigration levels²
Distribute asylum seekers across provinces in a “fair” manner²
Improve processing of asylum claims and grant additional powers to the immigration minister²
Tighten eligibility for claims made 14 days after irregular border crossings²
Create an emergency unit within the Immigration Department to support refugees during major crises²
Prohibit international students and temporary foreign workers from claiming asylum less than six months after arrival²
Allow pre-removal risk assessments if conditions change in a person’s home country²
Cut the number of temporary immigrants to Quebec by half³
Give Quebec authority to select and set thresholds for the International Mobility Program (excluding asylum seekers)³
Make French proficiency mandatory for citizenship in Quebec³
Allow Quebec to choose its own integration model for newcomers³
Require general knowledge tests to be completed in French³
Exclude Quebec from the federal Multiculturalism Act³
Require citizens in Quebec to take the oath of citizenship with their faces uncovered and in French³

New Democratic

No specific immigration target announced² ³
Immigration targets should reflect Canada’s needs and available resources to welcome newcomers²
End closed work permits²
Provide open work permits to temporary workers to protect them from abusive employers²
Address labour shortages, particularly in health care and construction³

Green

Criticized the 500,000 immigration target as mistake⁴
Coordinate immigration levels with provinces²
Set immigration targets based on Canada’s capacity to welcome newcomers² ⁴
Suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S.² ³
Collaborate with provinces and territories to improve screening, processing, and settlement infrastructure²
Change refugee provisions in order to extend access to scientists, activists, civil servants, journalists, judges, lawyers, doctors and other categories of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have felt targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump²

People’s Party

Set immigration target between 100,000 and 150,000, with further reductions during crises² ³
Pause immigration until the housing crisis is resolved² ³
Accept fewer refugees, foreign workers, and students²
Prioritize economic immigrants²
Withdraw from the UN Global Compact for Migration²
Eliminate the parent and grandparent reunification program² ³
Revoke work permits for students, except for academic work on campus²
Boost funding for CSIS, RCMP, and IRCC to assess alignment with “Canadian values”²
Criminalize birth tourism²
End automatic citizenship for babies born in Canada to foreign parents² ³
Repeal the Multiculturalism Act³
Eliminate federal multiculturalism funding³
Introduce a Canadian values test³

References

Federal polls (Pre-45th Parliament), 338Canada ↩
Compare the election promises of Canada’s major parties, CBC ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³
Comparez les plateformes électorales des partis, Radio-Canada ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³
Party Platform Tracker, CTV News ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹
Canada-Strong.pdf, Liberal Party of Canada ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶
For an affordable life. For safe streets. For Canada First., Conservative Party of Canada ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Notice – Supplementary Information for the 2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan, Government of Canada ↩ ↩² ↩³
Canada’s population clock (real-time model), Statistics Canada ↩
EXCLUSIVE: Poilievre suggests capping immigration at Harper-era levels, deportations for wrongdoers, Juno News ↩