The immigration levels plan is due — November 1 falls on a Sunday, and no new targets have been announced
Politics · The Canadian Chronicle
Published Sunday, November 1, 2026 · 3 min read
The next immigration levels plan is due, and the calendar is doing Ottawa a favour. Section 94 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act sets November 1 as the deadline for the minister's annual report to Parliament, the document that carries the levels plan.
At a glance
- The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act requires the minister’s annual report, including the levels plan, to be tabled on or before November 1, or within the next 30 sitting days if the House is not sitting.
- November 1, 2026 is a Sunday, so the 2027–2029 plan is expected in the first sitting days of November. No new targets have been announced.
- The plan in force, tabled November 4, 2025, holds permanent-resident admissions at 380,000 a year for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
- New temporary-resident arrivals are set at 385,000 in 2026 and 370,000 in both 2027 and 2028 under the current plan.
November 1, 2026 falls on a Sunday. When that date is not a sitting day, the Act allows the report to be tabled within the next 30 days on which the House sits. The 2027–2029 plan is therefore expected in the first sitting days of November, in the same week as the federal budget on Thursday, November 5.
What the current plan says
The plan in force was tabled on November 4, 2025. It holds permanent-resident admissions at 380,000 in each of 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Economic programs take 239,800 of the 2026 places. The family class takes 84,000, and refugees and protected persons take 49,300. The economic share rises to 64 per cent in 2027 and 2028, the highest proportion in more than a decade.
Temporary residents are the sharper cut. New arrivals are set at 385,000 in 2026 and 370,000 in both 2027 and 2028, with the stated goal of bringing the temporary population below 5 per cent of Canada's total population by the end of 2027.
What is not yet known
No 2027–2029 targets have been announced. The 2027 and 2028 figures in the current plan are notional: the department itself says they will be confirmed or adjusted by the next plan.
The new plan will set the first official target for 2029. It can hold the 380,000 line, lower it, or raise it. In late September, Prime Minister Mark Carney signalled that, with the system under control, Canada could resume a gradual increase in population through immigration. He set no number.
The test when it lands
The Chronicle will report the tabled figures against the current plan, line by line: the permanent-resident total, the temporary-resident arrivals, and the economic share.
The opposition positions are already on the record. The Conservatives have called for lower permanent-resident admissions and exit tracking. The People's Party calls for a moratorium. The tabled plan is the document both will be measured against, and the one Ottawa will be held to.
Sources
- Immigration Levels Plan 2026–2028, supplementary information — Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, November 4, 2025
- Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, section 94 — annual report tabling rule
- 2027–2029 plan timing reporting — VisaVerge; Immigration.ca, October–November 2026