They say that limiting the number of international students will do little to address the housing crunch and would instead hurt university research and deprive Quebec of skilled immigrants.
On Monday, federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser suggested that capping the explosive growth in the number of international students recruited to Canada in recent years was an option to reduce demand for housing. More than 540,000 new international study permits were issued by the federal government in 2022, up 24 per cent from 2021.
"Cutting down on the number of international students is just not a good idea given the significance of their presence in Canada and the contributions that they make," he said. The education that foreign students get in Canada sets them up for success in the country, he added. "It's completely absurd to blame international students in a city like Toronto, or Vancouver, or Montreal when they represent a tiny percentage of the population and have a completely different housing market than long-term residents," he said in a recent interview.
Catherine Bibeau-Lorrain, president of the Union étudiante du Québec, a 91,000-member group composed of 10 student unions, says Canada should be encouraging qualified immigrants — like those who graduate from the province's universities — to help with labour shortages.