Canada's population reached 41.8 million by July 1, 2026, with year-over-year growth slowing to just 0.5 percent—the weakest annual pace since the early 20th century—driven almost entirely by federal immigration policy shifts. The Carney government has lowered permanent resident targets to 380,000 annually and cut temporary resident inflows, including international students and workers, to reduce their share of the population toward 5 percent by late 2027. Non-permanent residents fell by over 154,000 in the latest 12-month period amid permit caps and tighter eligibility rules. These measures have produced the smallest quarterly gains in years and prompted some earlier quarterly declines before data revisions. Traders assign a modest edge to an outright annual decline for 2026 as continued outflows of temporary residents are expected to offset modest permanent immigration and natural increase through year-end.