Trudeau Says Canada ‘Made Some Mistakes’ on Immigration

Canada’s Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada “made some mistakes” on immigration and blamed “bad actors” for taking advantage of the system as Canada moves to stem immigration in coming years.

The Details: Trudeau’s admission came in a video published Sunday. He said by reducing immigration, Canada aims to stabilize population growth and housing prices. Trudeau also blamed actors like universities and large corporations for using post-pandemic immigration policies to boost profits. He added that he eventually will consider increasing immigration rates again.

For Context: According to Statista, over the past few years, Canada has boosted migrant intake to add nearly 500,000 migrants per year. As of 2023, nearly 20% of Canada’s population were immigrants. Trudeau will be up for re-election in October 2025, and currently trails the Conservative candidate Piere Poilievre by 17 points in the polls.

Key Quotes: Trudeau said, “Looking back, when the post-pandemic boom cooled and businesses no longer needed the additional labor help, as a federal team we could have acted quicker and turned off the taps faster.” Poilievre said, “Now, he’s basically denouncing his entire immigration policy and expecting us to believe that he can fix the problems that he caused.”

How the Media Covered It: AllSides did not find coverage of Trudeau’s admission from the left. Several Lean Left Canadian outlets like Global News and CBC republished coverage from The Canadian Press, which is owned by The Globe and Mail (Center bias). The article was also republished by National Post (Lean Right bias). Bloomberg’s (Lean Left bias) coverage, was published before Trudeau’s video.