Mark Carney, Canada’s new PM-designate and leader of the Labour Party, will succeed Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January.

In a landslide victory, Carney secured 85.9% of the vote against three rivals.

After the win, much of Carney’s victory speech focused on what he called Trump’s “unjustified tariffs” on Canada. Carney also pledged to “secure our borders” – a key demand of Trump who has accused Canada of failing to control the flow of migrants going south.

Despite his lack of political experience, he has previously navigated colossal crises, and brings economic heft to his new role.

Since his departure from the Bank of England in 2020, Mark Carney has maintained a steady presence on the global stage, channeling his expertise into shaping economic policy and advocating for sustainable finance.

A former central banker, Carney steered the Bank of Canada through the 2008 financial crisis and later became the first foreigner to head the Bank of England since its founding in 1694. His appointment to the latter position won bipartisan praise in Britain, where Canada’s swift post-crisis recovery was widely admired.

Carney, 59, has regularly attended G20 meetings at leader level, as chair of Financial Stability Board, an international economic body.

During his political campaign, Carney addressed issues like tariffs under Trump, the housing crisis, the economy, climate change, and investment in Canada. Carney also touched on one of the country’s most pressing debates — immigration.

As he presented the foundational pillars of his plan in Montreal in February, he pledged placing a cap on immigration until levels return to a sustainable pre-pandemic trend.

According to Carney, immigration levels must align with Canada’s capacity to provide adequate housing and employment opportunities. This approach, he added, would promote sustainable growth and prevent excessive strain on public services.

Centrist position on the spectrum

Carney appears to position himself as a centrist with economic expertise, focusing on fiscal responsibility and government spending reforms.

Even on immigration, his centrist stance falls between Trudeau’s liberal approach and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s more restrictive policies. While Carney criticises Trudeau for failing to address infrastructure bottlenecks, he claims that Poilievre’s proposed immigration cuts could stunt economic growth.

Last November, at an event organised by Cardus, a Christian think tank, Carney criticised Canada’s immigration approach, arguing that while immigration is vital for economic growth, the country had not adequately supported newcomers with housing, healthcare, and job opportunities.

“I think what happened in the last few years is we didn’t live up to our values on immigration,” said Carney, who was a special adviser to the federal Liberal Party at the time.

“We had much higher levels of foreign workers, students, and new Canadians coming in than we could absorb — more than we had housing for, healthcare for, social services for, and opportunities for. And so, we’re letting down the people that we let in, quite frankly,” he added.

Talking about what went wrong with immigration policy, Carney claimed that Canada chose to loosen its rules in response to pressure from businesses facing a labour shortage. He said the government ended up “losing track” in the process.

Carney also blamed provinces for underfunding higher education, which he said pushed institutions to rely on international students for revenue.

He claimed that all this contributed to rising rent prices, strained public services, and an overwhelmed labour market.

Resetting immigration targets

In October 2024, the Liberal government announced plans to reduce its immigration targets for permanent residents and significantly scale back temporary residents in Canada.

These changes followed a period of rapid population growth and increasing criticism of the government’s immigration policies.

Statistics Canada reveal that as of July 1, 2024, Canada’s population was 3% higher than the previous year — a sharp contrast to the annual growth rate of less than 1.5% between 1998 and 2018.

With the planned changes to immigration targets, the federal government now estimates Canada's population will decline slightly by 0.2 per cent in 2025 and 2026, before returning to growth of 0.8 per cent in 2027.

According to Forbes, the number of Indians immigrating to Canada has more than quadrupled since 2013.

A new report finds many Indian students have decided to attend Canadian universities rather than U.S. universities because Canada’s immigration policies are better at attracting and retaining talent. The data show Canada’s policies have translated into more Indians immigrating to Canada.

However, recent diplomatic tensions and a two-year cap on international student permits are expected to reduce the number of Indian students coming to Canada in the short term.

"Do we value higher education in this country or not? Well, if we value higher education, maybe we should start funding our universities," he said at the Cardus event. "On the foreign student side, it's more on provincial policy, on squeezing universities, in a sense."

Overall, Carney’s broader economic and fiscal policies that include cutting government spending and capping the public service, measures that could indirectly affect immigration-related expenditures. Given his background in economics and finance, he is likely to approach immigration through the lens of labour market dynamics and long-term economic growth.