BC Premier Eby Says Ottawa’s Skilled Worker Immigration Cuts Hurt Province Amid Economic Stress

B.C. Premier David Eby speaks during a news conference in Vancouver on Feb. 5, 2023. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press

British Columbia Premier David Eby says Ottawa’s cuts to the province’s skilled worker immigration program are adding strain at a time of “huge stress” on the economy.

Eby made the comments at a Jan. 28 press conference, referring to Ottawa’s recent reduction in Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) quotas. The program, which serves as a direct economic immigration pathway that allows provinces to grant permanent residency to skilled workers, saw its national admission target cut this year by more than half.

Eby said the reduction in allocations will limit the province’s ability to recruit in-demand workers, such as engineers, technicians, programmers, and doctors, who are essential to ensuring the province “keeps moving in a moment of huge stress on our economy.”

The federal government last October announced a transitional plan reducing immigration levels to ease pressures on housing, infrastructure and social services and “achieve well-managed, sustainable [population] growth in the long term.” 

The “2025-2027 Immigration Levels Plan” includes controlled targets for temporary residents–in particular international students and foreign workers–as well as permanent residents. It aims for a marginal population decrease of 0.2 percent in both 2025 and 2026, returning to a population growth of 0.8 percent in 2027.

The plan replaces the last year’s PNP targets, which had set provincial nominee admissions at 120,000 for both 2025 and 2026. Instead, admissions for 2025, 2026, and 2027 are now capped at 55,000.

Immigration Minister Marc Miller said last week that provinces and territories willing to take on asylum seekers could regain “coveted” provincial nominee spots, arguing that immigration is a shared responsibility.

“Provinces and Territories have equal roles in making sure new arrivals are properly provided for,” Miller wrote in a Jan. 23 post on social media platform X. “Nominee spots will be re-allocated based on these considerations.”

Eby said during his Jan. 28 address that Ottawa’s policy on accepting asylum seekers prevents his province from getting skilled workers. “We don’t have any space to put these asylum seekers,” Eby said.

Ottawa’s reduction in immigration levels also lowers overall permanent resident targets, cutting the 2025 goal from 500,000 to 395,000 and the 2026 target to 380,000.

Canada’s temporary resident population is also expected to decrease by more than 445,000 residents this year and next. The federal government last September announced measures to tighten temporary residence programs, putting a cap on international student admissions and limits on work permit eligibility. 

Ottawa said it will focus on long-term economic growth and key labour market sectors like health and trades, with economic class permanent resident admissions accounting for  61.7 percent of total admissions by 2027, up from 58 percent this year.

Canada admitted 108,619 permanent residents through the PNP program in 2023, with British Columbia using its full allocation of 8,200 nominations.