Federal immigration policy changes continue to shape Canada's demographic trajectory for 2026, with the government maintaining lower targets for temporary residents at 385,000 while stabilizing permanent resident admissions around 380,000 annually through 2028. These measures, introduced to bring non-permanent residents below 5 percent of the total population by late 2027, follow the 2025 annual decline of roughly 103,500 people driven primarily by outflows of international students and foreign workers. Parliamentary Budget Office projections now indicate flat population growth for 2026, suggesting any further quarterly drops will likely prove smaller than the record quarterly and annual contractions recorded in late 2025. Traders appear to weigh this stabilization against the risk of additional policy tightening or economic factors that could accelerate outflows.