Canadians headed to the polls yesterday for Election Day and the Liberal party has won.

It is currently too soon to tell if it will be a minority or majority government.

Although it’s impossible to predict exactly what new immigration policies the Liberal party will implement, we can sense the overall direction based on their previous policies and campaign statements.

1. As of January 2025, Canada’s Temporary Residents (students and workers, not including visitors) are estimated at 3.02 million. This number is approximately 7.25% of the total population of Canada. The Liberal party has promised to return to “sustainable levels” by reducing the proportion of foreign workers and international students to less than 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027.

As per the latest Immigration Levels Plan 2025 - 2027, the government expects to see the number of Temporary Residents decrease as

more Temporary Residents transition to Permanent Residence or
will leave Canada due to their status expiring.

2. As per the Immigration Levels Plan 2025 - 2027, Canada’s overall planned admission targets for Permanent Residence (PR) are

395,000 in 2025,
380,000 in 2026,
365,000 in 2027.

3. The Liberal party has planned to increase Francophone immigration outside Quebec in the upcoming years. The current target increases are set at

8.5% in 2025,
9.5% in 2026,
10% in 2027

in the latest Levels Plan.

It is important to note that the official CRS calculator tool is currently awarding 75 points instead of 50 under the “Additional points” factor for scoring NCLC 7 or higher in all four French language skills and CLB 5 or higher in all four English skills. There has been no official communication from IRCC regarding this score increase and only 50 additional points are stated on the Express Entry Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) criteria page.

4. The Liberal party also says it will work with the provinces and territories to speed up recognition of foreign credentials and the Canadian licensing process.

5. Additional plans include:

Reducing processing times by using “digital service tools” and eliminating backlogs
Providing legal aid for asylum seekers and refugees so they can get their cases resolved quickly
Removing failed refugee claimants once the due process is completed
Increasing resources for border security
Tightening visa requirements and
Improving the enforcement against immigration fraud
Continuing to administer immigration as a shared responsibility with the government of Quebec

Liberal Party wins - what’s next for immigration?