“If the federal government or the provinces encourages more international students, there’s nothing in place to really build more student residences or anything like that. Historically, we’ve treated these policies as really in isolation and that’s led to big growth in the population without resulted growth in the housing.”Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Marc Miller speaks to the media during the federal cabinet retreat in Montreal, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.
Some 70 per cent of the demand for housing in Ontario over the last year came from newcomers to Canada, an analysis of data from expert Mike Moffatt shows, raising questions about how governments are preparing to accommodate surging population growth as the country grapples with an affordability crisis largely driven by rising home prices.
But Immigration Minister Marc Miller pushed back against suggestions the federal government was solely responsible for the surge in immigration to Canada and suggested Ontario has failed to lay the necessary groundwork to welcome newcomers. Miller pointed to previous analysis from Moffatt that showed Ontario has “not done the best job in investing in housing” and noted that the large increase in temporary residents has mostly been due to new international students, which is something the province largely controls.