The 2026 federal budget shows Canada plans to largely hold immigration levels steady over the next few years, but experts said provinces will get more say over who they welcome.
Last week’s budget raised annual admissions under the Provincial Nominee Program slightly, to 95,000 from 92,500, starting next year.
The program lets provinces and territories nominate foreign nationals with specific skills or work experience for federal approval.
“Our plan is specifically built on partnership, giving provinces and territories an important role in responding to the needs of their communities,” said Lena Metlege Diab, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, on Thursday.
Irene Bloemraad, a professor of political science and sociology at the University of British Columbia, said B.C.’s allocation of provincial nominees for 2026 was relatively low.
B.C. was allocated a total of 6,254 spots, compared with Alberta’s 6,603 and Ontario’s 14,119.
Bloemraad noted that it’s not yet clear how the federal government will parcel out the additional allocations to the provinces and territories next year.
“We do not yet know what B.C.’s quota is going to be, but it would allow provincial leaders to have more of a say over which economic migrants might be the ones that are most appropriate for B.C.’s needs,” said Bloemraad.
Cedric Marin, an immigration lawyer and former member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, said the changes could also benefit rural communities facing labour shortages. He said it will be up to the province to decide whether to use its full annual allocation and which sectors to prioritize.
“We need to manage this responsibly,” B.C.’s Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson told reporters Thursday.
“If you’re a doctor, a nurse or a health professional, I would love to see those individuals moved to the front of the line,” said Doerkson. “But I do believe that over the last number of years the numbers have been staggering, and it’s been difficult to welcome somebody here from another country and not be able to provide housing, health care, all of the simple basics that we’ve become pretty used to receiving in this country.”
The federal budget said that new permanent resident admissions to Canada will remain at 380,000 annually from 2027 to 2029, along with 370,000 new temporary resident arrivals each year.
However, it also includes a one-time measure to transition up to 200,000 additional people already living in Canada to permanent residency.
Bloemraad said the measures would give people more security, noting people with temporary status are at greater risk of becoming undocumented.
“We get challenges if those people end up in our emergency rooms or if they suddenly need assistance, because our system is not set up to help people who fall through the cracks and don’t have status in Canada,” she said. “So the extent to which we can avoid that by moving people from temporary to permanent, I think is a real benefit to everybody in the province.”
