The federal government must continue its measured reduction of new international study permits. The Conestoga College episode makes the case unmistakable: unchecked growth in foreign enrolment can create short term windfalls for institutions while inflicting long term pain on housing markets, health services and the overall standard of living for Canadians.
Conestoga’s pipeline of fee paying foreign students has effectively collapsed, with a 97 per cent reduction in new approvals from January-June 2024 to January-June 2025. The federal government issued just 540 new study permits for Conestoga in the first half of 2025, down from 17,600 in the same months of 2023.
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