Ottawa (AFP) - Canada on Thursday sharply curbed its immigration targets in an effort to “pause” population growth, a shift that comes as public support for immigration declines.

The announcement marked a major pivot for a country known as a welcoming destination for new arrivals, including economic migrants from the developing world seeking better living conditions.

Canada’s population jumped 3.2 percent from 2023 to 2024, the biggest annual rise since 1957, and now stands at 41 million – a rise partly fueled by a wave of new arrivals.

Announcing the curbs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the influx helped the Canadian economy bounce back from Covid pandemic disruptions by ensuring robust labor supply – but the time had come for “adjustments.”

“We will reduce the number of immigrants we bring in over the next three years, which will result in a pause in the population growth,” Trudeau said.

He said Canada needed to stabilize its population to give “all levels of government time to catch up, time to make the necessary investments in health care, in housing, (and) in social services to accommodate more people in the future.”

Donald Trump, who has made opposing immigration a focus of his US presidential campaign – including through misleading and inflammatory claims – jumped on the policy change.

“Even Justin Trudeau wants to close Canada’s Borders,” he posted on Truth Social.

Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller called the plan “probably the first of its kind,” in terms of its broad efforts to control population growth.

The country had previously planned to let 500,000 new permanent residents settle in the country in 2025 and 2026.

But those targets were revised down to 395,000 next year and 380,000 for 2026. It set the 2027 target at 365,000.

According to the last census in 2021, 23 percent of Canada’s population was foreign-born.

Statistic Canada said that as of 2021 most immigrants were from Asia and the Middle East, but an increasing share were coming from Africa.

Nearly one of five recent immigrants were born in India.

- Anti-immigrant sentiment? -

A September survey from the Environics Institute found that “for the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration.”

Fifty-eight percent of Canadians believe the country takes in too many immigrants, up 14 percentage points from 2023, the survey found.

In figures released last week, Abacus Data found that one of every two Canadians say immigration is harming the country.

The Abacus figures also noted that concern among Canadians about the impact of immigration is linked to unease over affordable housing.

Miller predicted curbing immigration will address the housing supply gap, reducing by 670,000 the number of homes Canada needs to build by 2027.

“That is significant,” Miller told reporters.

- Election next year -

But the Canadian Chamber of Commerce warned immigration is Canada’s “only source of workforce growth” given its ageing population, low fertility rates, and retirements from the baby-boomer generation.

“Significantly decreasing our labour pool will impact thousands of these employers across Canada struggling to find the workforce they need,” the group said in a statement.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, whose Conservative Party is trouncing Trudeau’s Liberals in recent polling, said the prime minister was desperately trying to boost his popularity as he confronts a revolt inside his own party and declining support nationally.

“We can’t expect that Justin Trudeau will keep any of these frantic, panicked, last-minute promises,” Poilievre told reporters.

Canada is due to hold elections next year.