From: Parisa MahboubiTo: Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipDate: November 13, 2026 Re: The real immigration story in Budget 2026 isn’t the targets Last week’s federal budget kept Canada’s immigration targets steady: 380,000 permanent residents and 370,000 new temporary arrivals a year from 2027 to 2029. Those numbers are reasonable. They match last year’s […]
The Eighth Regent Debate, Toronto’s marquee public policy event, is designed to discuss the motion openly, rigorously, and at the level it deserves: “Be it resolved: the Crown’s Indigenous consultation framework has become an unintended impediment to the country’s economic prosperity.”
November 10, 2026 – Young adults are taking longer to find work, with nearly one in three unemployed university graduates aged 20 to 24 searching for a job for six months or longer, according to a C.D. Howe Institute report. Prolonged job searches risk depressing long-term career earnings and point to a need for more […]
10 novembre 2026 – Les jeunes adultes mettent de plus en plus de temps à trouver un emploi. Près d’un diplômé universitaire sur trois âgé de 20 à 24 ans et sans emploi cherche du travail depuis six mois ou plus, selon un rapport de l’Institut C.D. Howe. Ces recherches prolongées risquent de freiner leurs […]
by Tammy Schirle and Parisa Mahboubi The job market is tough for young adults in Canada, but unemployment rates alone do not tell the full story. Importantly, a growing share of unemployed 20- to 24-year-olds are just starting to establish a career, searching for work as new entrants or re-entrants to the labour market, rather […]
Budget 2026 has dropped. Bill Robson and Don Drummond join us to discuss what grade they give Ottawa’s latest budget and why. Plus, Parisa Mahboubi discusses the federal government’s new immigration targets.
by Parisa Mahboubi Using data from the 2023 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this Commentary finds that immigrants in Canada score lower, on average, than non-immigrants on measures of literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving, with the largest gap in literacy. Although immigrants are more likely than non-immigrants to hold a university […]
Le 27 octobre 2026 – Alors qu’Ottawa réévalue les niveaux d’immigration et les critères de sélection des nouveaux arrivants, le Canada doit faire davantage pour que les études et les compétences des immigrants aboutissent à de meilleurs résultats économiques, selon une nouveau étude de l’Institut C.D. Howe, soutenu par le Centre des Compétences futures. Dans […]
October 27, 2026 – As Ottawa reconsiders immigration levels and how it selects newcomers, Canada needs to do more to translate immigrants’ education and skills into stronger economic outcomes, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report. In A Matter of Degrees: Understanding Immigrant Skills and Labour-Market Outcomes, Parisa Mahboubi finds that immigrants are more […]
Immigrants in Canada score 29–39 points lower in literacy, on average, than non-immigrants with the same level of education. The gap persists across all education levels: university-educated immigrants score about the same as non-immigrants with only a high school diploma, and half of university-educated immigrants score at the two lowest literacy levels, compared with just […]
C.D. Howe Institute Releases a Series of Recommendations to Boost Canada’s Productivity October 15, 2026 – Canada needs coordinated reforms across multiple policy areas to address its longstanding productivity problem, according to the C.D. Howe Institute’s Productivity Blueprint, released today with recommendations for policymakers across different sectors and levels of government. Canadians’ living standards have […]
L’Institut C.D. Howe publie une série de recommandations pour stimuler la productivité du Canada 15 Octobre 2026 – Le Canada doit mettre en œuvre des réformes coordonnées dans plusieurs domaines de politique publique pour remédier à son problème persistant de productivité, selon le Productivity Blueprint de l’Institut C.D. Howe, publié aujourd’hui et proposant des recommandations […]
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From: Parisa MahboubiTo: Hon. Lena Metlege Diab, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and CitizenshipDate: November 13, 2026 Re: The real immigration story in Budget 2026 isn’t the targets Last week’s federal budget kept Canada’s immigration targets steady: 380,000 permanent residents and 370,000 new temporary arrivals a year from 2027 to 2029. Those numbers are reasonable. They match last year’s […] 
The Eighth Regent Debate, Toronto’s marquee public policy event, is designed to discuss the motion openly, rigorously, and at the level it deserves: “Be it resolved: the Crown’s Indigenous consultation framework has become an unintended impediment to the country’s economic prosperity.” 
November 10, 2026 – Young adults are taking longer to find work, with nearly one in three unemployed university graduates aged 20 to 24 searching for a job for six months or longer, according to a C.D. Howe Institute report. Prolonged job searches risk depressing long-term career earnings and point to a need for more […] 
Budget 2026 has dropped. Bill Robson and Don Drummond join us to discuss what grade they give Ottawa’s latest budget and why. Plus, Parisa Mahboubi discusses the federal government’s new immigration targets. 
by Parisa Mahboubi Using data from the 2023 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), this Commentary finds that immigrants in Canada score lower, on average, than non-immigrants on measures of literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving, with the largest gap in literacy. Although immigrants are more likely than non-immigrants to hold a university […] 
Immigrants in Canada score 29–39 points lower in literacy, on average, than non-immigrants with the same level of education. The gap persists across all education levels: university-educated immigrants score about the same as non-immigrants with only a high school diploma, and half of university-educated immigrants score at the two lowest literacy levels, compared with just […]