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Canada spent the last few years bringing in people faster than ever. Now the system is contracting — and if you're a worker, an employer, or anyone with a stake in Canadian immigration, the rules you planned around may no longer apply.
In this episode of Border Banter, Sonia Sidhu sits down with Stephen W. Green, managing partner of Green & Spiegel and a 40-year veteran of Canadian immigration law, to zoom out from individual programs and look at the whole system — where it's been, where it's heading, and what the current shifts actually mean on the ground.
Stephen has watched immigration levels rise, fall, and rise again across four decades. His perspective reframes the current "crackdown" narrative: we're not entering uncharted territory — in many ways we're returning to levels that held for most of his career. In this episode:
- Why current immigration levels are closer to "normal" than the headlines suggest
- The post-pandemic surge — why it happened and why it was always temporary
- How the government moves "like the Titanic": slow to react in both directions
- The Express Entry reform consultation and what category-based selection really means
- Why chasing today's in-demand occupation is riskier than it looks
- Ontario's OINP Phase 1 redesign — the end of the old employer job offer streams
- The new Ontario Workforce Priority Stream and what changed for rural employers
- Why old Expressions of Interest are being wiped, and who needs to re-register
- The single biggest red flag when choosing an immigration lawyer
- What Canada's system should prioritize over the next five years
Important Note: Since recording this episode, the Ontario Workforce Priority Stream process has been updated.
The changes were released on July 20, so some information discussed in this episode may no longer reflect the current process.
Stay tuned—we’ll be sharing a full breakdown of the new updates and what they mean in an upcoming post and podcast episode.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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