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Canada's Trade Talks With the US Are Frozen. An Ontario Ad Was the Last Straw, and Canada Is Fast-Tracking 33,000 Temp Workers to Permanent Residence.
News for residents of the “11th province”: Canadians abroad.
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Canada's Trade Talks With the US Are Frozen. An Ontario Ad Was the Last Straw.
Negotiations to renew CUSMA - the continental free-trade deal - froze last fall after the Trump administration got angry about an Ontario government advertising campaign that quoted Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs. They have not resumed.
This week, PM Mark Carney rejected characterizing Canada's energy and critical minerals as "leverage" in the talks. "Should we be further integrating our energy markets with the United States at a time they view that as leverage?" Carney asked in a Canadian Press interview on Friday. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, meanwhile, had already told a group of visiting Canadian politicians in Washington that Ottawa shouldn't try to use energy as a bargaining chip at all.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been pressing Carney to say what Canada's leverage actually is - if not energy and minerals. Carney says the question is really about mutual interest, not pressure tactics. "If it's not there, we have other options," he said.
The CUSMA review is due to start by this summer. Greer said the U.S. is unlikely to rubber-stamp the deal in July, which signals a longer negotiation ahead. For Canadians abroad whose savings, mortgages, and return plans are all priced in Canadian dollars, the shape of that deal matters a great deal.
Read more: The Globe and Mail / BNN Bloomberg
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Canada Is Fast-Tracking 33,000 Temp Workers to Permanent Residence
The federal government gave clearer details on Monday about who qualifies for the In-Canada Workers Initiative - the one-time pathway that will transition up to 33,000 temporary foreign workers to permanent residence in 2026 and 2027.
IRCC says it is pulling from existing application inventories, which means eligible workers do not need to do anything. The department will find them. To qualify, workers must have applied through the Provincial Nominee Program, Atlantic Immigration Program, Agri-Food Pilot, Caregiver Pilots, or a handful of community immigration pilots - and must have lived in a smaller Canadian community for at least two years. Major urban centres are excluded.
Between January and February, 3,600 workers already got permanent residence under this stream. The target is 20,000 by year-end, with the remaining 13,000 in 2027. The broader goal is to reduce Canada's temporary resident share to below 5% of the total population by the end of 2027.
For Canadians abroad with family members on temp permits in rural Nova Scotia, Alberta, or BC waiting years in a PR backlog, this is the news they have been hoping for.
Read more: CIC News / Canadian Immigrant