At the outset of a cabinet retreat in Montreal, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the federal government is cutting the number of study permits by 35 per cent this year. With permits apportioned by province, Ontario, B.C. and New Brunswick will be most affected, he said. Spouses of students also won’t be automatically admitted to work. (Master’s and doctoral students are exempt from both those restrictions.) Furthermore, student-visa holders starting private courses licensed from public institutions after Sept. 1 will not be eligible for postgraduate work permits, he said. (The Logic)

Talking point: Although the reductions will affect the housing market, especially for renters, Miller insisted profiteers are the targets: “It is not the intention of this program to have sham commerce degrees or business degrees, [from schools] that are sitting on top of a massage parlour, that someone doesn’t even go to, and then they come into a province and drive an Uber,” he said. The federal government wants provinces to crack down on those operations during the two-year period.