44th Parliament of Canada
On 26 October 2021,soon after his re-election to the 44th Parliament of Canada,Fraser was appointed Minister of Immigration,Refugees and Citizenship. In February 2022,Fraser tabled the 2022-2024 Immigration Levels Plan,which outlined a 1.14% growth in population per year,with increased targets surpassing 450,000 permanent residents by 2024. [8] [9] After Fraser's news release,the Century Initiative,released their statement,commending Fraser. [10] [11] In November of the same year,Fraser announced the government's plan to increase Canada's annual immigration target to 500,000 by 2025;Fraser cited labour shortages as the reason for the increase. [12] Concerns over the effects higher immigration targets would have on health care,housing affordability and the labour market,were dismissed by Fraser,who explained some people,like international students,who had become permanent residents,were already living in the country. [13] Further criticism arose when Radio-Canada revealed sources within Fraser's ministry said McKinsey &Company,which had received $100 million in consulting fees from the Liberal government,was influencing immigration policy. [14] Fraser insisted he had not been influenced by McKinsey,and decided on the increase,independently. [15]
In October 2022,the Fifth Estate reported on the exploitation of international students by private colleges. Fraser expressed his concern with these private colleges,and stated provincial governments could proceed with shutting them down without approval from the federal government. [16]
Fraser was immigration minister when the Roxham Road migrant crisis peaked. [17] After Quebec complained it was "unfairly shouldering the cost of taking care of asylum-seekers," crossing at the irregular port of entry,Fraser announced a "Pan-Canadian" solution to the crisis:the federal government would transfer thousands of migrants to Ontario towns,such as Niagara Falls,which was already having a housing crisis. [18] Roxham Road closed in March 2023. The same month,the government proposed $1 billion for short-term accommodation and temporary health-care coverage for asylum-seekers and refugees. [19] [20] [21]
On July 26,2023,Fraser was appointed Minister of Housing,Infrastructure and Communities. After the population increased by over 430,000 in three months,the government was criticized for "having lost control". With international students,temporary foreign workers,and migrants,competing for social programs,jobs,housing and health care,Fraser stated the government would look at reforms to the international student program but "closing the doors to newcomers" was not the solution and developers needed "access to the labour force to build the houses they needed." [22] A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report showed the number of construction workers had hit an all-time high in 2023,but the industry's potential output was not met and structural changes were needed. [23]
In 2022,when Fraser was the immigration minister,Canada's population growth was the highest of any G7 country. The population grew by 4.7 people for every housing unit completed the previous year. [24] In 2023,after homelessness in Halifax,Nova Scotia doubled in one year,and Toronto and Hamilton,Ontario declared homelessness an emergency,Fraser announced $100 million towards emergency winter funding to support communities in their response to homelessness. [25] [26] [27] [28] In February 2024,Fraser stated homelessness was not a policy failure but a "generational moral failure," Canadians share. [29]
In March 2024,the federal government negotiated deals with municipalities to add 750,000 homes to Canada's housing supply in the next decade,to be paid through the Housing Accelerator Fund,at a cost of $4 billion. [30] In April 2024,the Liberals unveiled their plan to build 3.9 million homes by 2031 to solve the housing crisis. [31] The CMHC estimates nearly six million new homes are needed by 2030. [32] On 25 August 2024,Fraser announced the government's intention to offer 99-year leases of government lands for the purpose of affordable housing. [33]
In December 2024,Fraser announced he would leave federal cabinet during the next cabinet shuffle. Fraser also announced he would not seek re-election. On January 21,2025,he endorsed former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney in the upcoming 2025 Liberal leadership election. [34] Carney subsequently asked Fraser to reconsider his decision to retire from the House of Commons,and on March 25 he announced that he would seek a fourth term,replacing Graham Murray as the Liberal candidate. [35] [36]
