Justin Trudeau, the then Canada’s prime minister said on Monday that he was resigned from his position.
Liberal party leader for almost a decade now Trudeau cited internal conflicts within his party for his resignation.
“I do not turn my back even when confronted with a fight, a very important one for our party and the country at that. But I do this job because ‘Canadians’ and ‘the welfare of democracy’ are value systems that many people cherish, Trudeau retorted.
They believe Trudeau when he said that he would remain as the prime minister and leader of the Liberals until a new one is anointed by the party.
However, many people in India are asking – what does Trudeau’s exit mean for Indian students and workers in Canada?
Let’s take a closer look:
For students
That is why Trudeau stepping down might well be bad news for Indian students.
Canadian has remained one of the most preferred study destinations for Indian students for about a decade now.
The numbers bear this out.
‘According to statistics provided by IRCC: 1.3 Million Indian Students got Study visas between 2015 and 2024’.
More than 200 000 international students were enrolled in Canadian institutions while in 2015 only 31 920 students – 14.5% of the total number of international students – had permits to study in Canada Indian. To temperate level, by end of the year 2023 this number had raised to 278250 and was counted 40.7% of total international students.
But if we look at Trudeau’s government for example, it is clear that things were only turning for the worse for Indian students by the last couple of years of his administration.
Canada’s federal government had already taken several steps to make study permit more difficult to attain including quantitative restrictions as well as qualification hurdles.
Therefore the number of student over the Academic year 2024 acquiring such permits scaled down by four per cent.
Until August, according to the Indian Express, only 137,445 Indian students had been allowed to enter the United States on study permits – 36.7 per cent of total number of students granted permits.
The government of Canada has also been unfair to students in other ways as follows.
The Trudeau government in November shut down what it called the Student Direct Stream – a popular study permit process that had given visas to thousands of international students.
In September the government put restrictions in place which allowed foreign students to work no more than XX hours per week – something which experts predicted would negatively affect Indian students in particular.
During the pandemic, the Trudeau government had removed the work cap that previously allowed international students to work only 20 hours a week.
Other bit modifications by Trudeau government included alterations to the Canada’s post-graduation work permit program ( PGWP) and spousal work permits; measures that have limited openings for international students to legally continue to stay in Canada after graduation.
However, there have also been people who supported recent changes made by Trudeau government.
Tirath Singh, an immigration consultant at Jalandhar-based Pinnacle Immigration said this to Indian Express,“The recent changes has brought in new measures, it has plans to attract more serious students who specifically come to study and work in fields which Canada needs. As for those who really want to establish successful business they are becoming stable and offer a long-term perspective.”
“It is perfectly alright to target serious students Only.” It makes it easy to find a job, helps in getting PGWPs, and makes ways to PR smoother. The two aspects seem to be very much problematic with the non-serious students.
Why the Conservative Party?: While some believe that the party could actually be worse for students if Pierre Poilievre leads the party in the upcoming polls.
A piece in The Times of India observed that the conservatives in Canada have been less friendly of immigrants than the liberals in the country.
Another column published in the newspaper pointed out that students from other countries might face challenges in accessing homes, healthcare and employment opportunities in case they moved to Canada under a Poilievre government.
They opined that study permits could be more difficult to obtain and that competition for admission would be more stiff. Reduced flexibility in terms of work related students’ eligibility for Work Programmes may decrease off Campus employment which is so vital in the lives of many students,” the piece suggested.
In September, Poilievre promised a gargantuan scaling back of the international student programme.
It said Business Standard had quoted Poilievre as saying, “We’re going to return to the system we had before Justin Trudeau.”
A small number of highly talented young people who could come here, learn, and if they complied with norms could remain.”
Others are more upbeat.
Saurabh Arora, the founder, and the CEO of University Living expressed to the Indian Express in his words “Justin Trudeau’s resignation means something very big in Canada politics and this may cause a stir in the Indian community of Canadian students”.
On one hand, the changes of the leadership create certain unpredictability, on the other hand, it opens its sphere for the improvement.
If acquiring the ministry introduced the new leadership to the fact that education is a key for enhancing Canada-India relations, it may create even more opportunities and guarantee those overseas students to continue considering Canada as a supportive environment to achieve their academic and career dreams.
What about workers in Canada?
Despite his promises Trudeau’s government has already stated it would be reducing immigration in the next few years.
Canada had pledged to cut intended visa offers for permanent residency from 500,000 to 365,000 within the 2021-2027 period— a development that may affect Indian employees.
According to cbc.ca, Trudeau in September had come up with a plan to lower the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada.
However, Trudeau had made an exception for what he termed the ‘food security sectors’ including farming, food and fish processing, construction and healthcare –professions that were struggling with staff scarcity.
However, Trudeau had drawn the exception for “food security sectors” including agriculture, food and fish processing, construction and health care – industries which struggled with acute labour shortages.
“What we require is for Canadian companies to invest their money in training their workers, the technology etc. not going further afield to hire cheap labour,” Trudeau added.
“It is not convenient for the Canadians who can hardly find a decent job, and it is not convenient for these temporary foreign workers – some of them are being abused and exploited.”
Previous gurus had suggested that the rationing of work permits under Tommy’s TFWP would affect India worker in information technology and hospitality, two areas in which Canada heavily depends on outsourcing international talent to fill the shortage.
Poilievre might be even more reckless than Trudeau.
According to NDTV, poilievre had accused Trudeau of wrecking the TFW programme.
He stated that he would ‘veto temporary foreign workers where they are displacing Canadians’ – while also saying this of the agricultural sector programme.
There are indications here too that things could get worse under Poilievre According to experts.
Adarsh Khandelwal, cofounder of rising education-matching platform Collegify, said in an interview with The Times of India that there is one area of potential shift in the event the Conservatives successfully form a government – immigration legislation.
The Conservatives may produce additional restrictions on the immigration issue or consider a different list of priorities concerning visa or work permits granting.
That is right, while waiting for what comes next, students and parents in India will certainly be watching Canada.
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