Where does Poilievre stand on Immigration?
A peak inside the mind of the Conservatives' top contender, and what his approach to immigration might look like.
We’ve gone into great detail where the federal government has stands on immigration, but what about the official opposition?
According to Abacus Data, the Conservatives continue to hold a dominant 26 point lead in the polls — and are certainly a top contender to form the next government.
The Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre (2022-Present), has made a habit of criticizing the current government’s policies on immigration as “broken”. Not exactly a cornerstone cheesy Conservative slogan like “Axe the Tax”, but it fits the overall message.
More importantly, immigration is an important issue that seems to resonate with Canadians, especially recently — as shown in recent Abacus polling.
Here, I’m going to lay out a thorough breakdown of what Poilievre has said about immigration over the course of his career. (This will be a multi-part series, so buckle up!)
Background Context
Pierre Poilievre was first elected to the House of Commons during the 2004 federal elections, back during the prime ministership of Paul Martin.
Then came Stephen Harper in 2006. Poilievre initially served a number of different parliamentary secretary posts, then was added to Harper’s Cabinet as Minister for Democratic Reform (2013-2015) and then Minister of Employment and Social Development (2015).
In the latter role, Poilievre mainly championed the Conservatives’ relatively centrist position on immigration, which focused the need for immigrants to fill critical labour shortages and strengthen the Canadian economy.
After a turbulent series of elections, the Conservative Party of Canada voted him as their leader on 10 September 2022.
For those interested in a deeper dive, here’s some great reading on Canada’s historic immigration strategies.
On Economic Immigration
As previously mentioned, during his tenure as Minister of Employment and Social Development, Poilievre generally supported economic immigration as essential to filling Canadian labour shortages.
For example, in 2015, he announced new project funding to help internationally trained doctors and engineers more rapidly integrate into the job market.
Over the last several years, Poilievre has maintained taken this economic immigration approach — repeatedly highlighting his desire to streamline immigration processes and licensing requirements, more specifically regarding in-demand occupations to solve labour market needs.
For example, at an August 2023 press conference, Poilievre stated he would focus on housing by accelerating entry for immigrants in trades. Additionally, he indicated that a Conservative government would shape its immigration policy around 3 things:
private sector employer demands
level of support coordinated by charities for refugees
family reunification
When the government’s Immigration Levels Plan 2025-2027 was announced, Poilievre proposed the idea of creating a “Blue Seal” national licensing standard for the healthcare sector, an idea he has previously floated in 2023.
“Provinces can voluntarily adopt a blue seal so immigrant doctors and nurses can take a test, get qualified and get to work, reducing wait times in hospitals.”
On Immigration Targets
Poilievre has echoed the notion that Canada’s immigration system is “broken”, as announced in an August 2023 press conference. According to his plans, a Conservative government would base its immigration policy on key factors (eg employers’ needs).
Throughout 2024, Poilievre suggested the idea of anchoring immigration levels to homes built. At a press conference in 2024, he argued that a future Conservative government would make Canada’s population growth rate slightly lower than the number of new homes being built in a given year.
On 24 October, the Immigration Levels Plan 2025-27 was released, showing significant cuts to immigration targets — bringing levels down low enough that Canada would have a negative population growth of -0.2 for 2025 and 2026, before returning to +0.8 in 2027.
Poilievre criticized the plan as a “massive admission of failure” by Trudeau. In his highly reviewed interview with Jordan Peterson (recorded in December 2024), he reiterated his thoughts that Canada must “slow down the numbers” — loosely suggesting more cuts would come under a Conservative government.
Lastly, he has suggested that current immigration programs show signs of misuse:
“There’s no doubt about it. We have to end the fraud of the international student and the Temporary Foreign Worker programs”.
He has frequently campaigned on this issue, such as his visit in Jan 2024 to the Tri-Cities, highlighting stories of international students being exploited. Poilievre argued that under a Conservative government:
“If someone comes as an international student, they have to be registered for a real educational institution that offers a real certificate, they have to prove they have the income to pay their bills while they are here, and they have to prove they have homes.”
What About…?
There are many other essential aspects of immigration that Poilievre has addressed, including border security, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, international students, credential recognition, etc.
Stay tuned for the follow up, covering these topics!