Poilievre accuses government of cooking books on immigration

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the government is hiding the facts on the number of newcomers it’s bringing to Canada, despite the focus in the new immigration levels plan on people who are already here.

Poilievre told a news conference in Brampton, Ont., today the current government is blowing past the Trudeau government’s immigration numbers with plans to grant permanent residency to 200,000 temporary residents this year, in addition to the broad target of 380,000 permanent residents.

The one-year program will select, in collaboration with the provinces and territories, 100,000 people here on work visas who already have applied for permanent residency.

The other 100,000 applicants will be chosen from humanitarian permanent residency streams and government officials say this is meant to clear applications from about 50,000 former Hong Kong residents and Ukrainians who are already in Canada.