Your analysis of the situation is absolutely correct. It is true that the 2016 policy generated by the federal government's Advisory Council on Economic Growth was a continuation of the previous policy, but it amplified it considerably. It's also true that there was a change of direction starting in 2024, after the important announcement made by Mr. Miller that mistakes may have been made and that new entries should be moderated in the future. We like immigrants, of course, but we can't take in more than a certain number at a time.
Now, what are the consequences? It is difficult to distinguish the effects of temporary immigration on the labour market from those of permanent immigration. It is very difficult to properly measure the effects in the case of temporary immigration, first of all because Statistics Canada's data is not yet up to date, as the agency itself acknowledges. The people at Statistics Canada are competent and are working hard to get there, but the work isn't done yet. Second of all, there has been a significant increase in illegal immigration to Canada. Last year, Mr. Miller said that there were between 10% and 20% more temporary immigrants than the estimated number.
You don't need a Ph.D. in economics to understand that, if you double the number of people simultaneously looking for work in a situation where the economy is slowing, the unemployment rate will increase for all those people. So we have a higher unemployment rate for both immigrants and young people, who are competing.
In addition, employers often prefer to hire immigrants, as long as they already have work experience in Canada. They also figure that immigrants have a family to support, for example. So when a young person who doesn't yet have a family joins the labour market, even if they have some training, they may be left out.