Canada before and after November 4, 2015, in ten charts from official data.
The red line marks November 4, 2015, the day the Trudeau government was sworn in. The shaded area is everything since. Grey bars are the years before.
Both lines start at 100 in 2005. In the ten years before 2015 the two countries grew almost in step: Canada 6.3%, the United States 8.0%. Since then they have split.
GDP per person in inflation-adjusted US dollars, indexed so that 2005 = 100. Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, via FRED (Canada, United States).
Most of the surge was temporary residents, mainly students and workers. Their number peaked at 2.98 million in October 2024, or 7.2% of everyone in the country, and has fallen since. Figures are from Statistics Canada's September 2026 revision.
People added to Canada's population in each 12 months ending July 1. Source: Statistics Canada, population estimates (Table 17-10-0009-01).
The count peaked at 1,037,165 at the end of 2023. Ottawa capped new study permits in January 2024.
International students holding a valid study permit on December 31. Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, open data.
These permits come through the International Mobility Program, which does not ask an employer to show that no Canadian could fill the job. They include permits for recent graduates and for the spouses of students and workers.
International Mobility Program work permit holders on December 31. Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, open data.
Claims had fallen to about 10,000 in 2013. They climbed after 2016, dropped when the border closed in 2020, then set a new record in each of 2022, 2023 and 2024, before falling to 113,000 in 2025. From 2023 most claims were made at airports and inland offices, not at irregular border crossings.
People who claimed asylum in Canada, by year of claim. Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, yearly asylum claim pages for 2011 to 2014 and open data from 2015.
The index weights each police-reported offence by how serious it is, with 2006 set to 100. It fell for eight years to a low in 2014, was already rising during 2015, and stood 43% higher by 2024 before easing to 97.2 in 2025.
Police-reported Violent Crime Severity Index. Source: Statistics Canada, Uniform Crime Reporting Survey, Table 35-10-0026-01.
That is 43% more staff over a period when the population grew by about 15%. The count had been cut from 282,980 in 2010 before the government changed, and it fell back to 357,965 by March 2025.
Active employees in the core public administration and separate agencies on March 31. Source: Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, federal public service statistics.
This is spending on programs and transfers, before interest on the debt. It peaked at $609 billion in the pandemic year 2020–21. Measured against the economy it rose from 12.5% of GDP to 15.9%.
Program expenses, excluding net actuarial losses, by fiscal year ending March 31. Source: Department of Finance Canada, Fiscal Reference Tables, November 2025.
Measured against the size of the economy, the debt rose from 31.5% of GDP to 41.2%. Yearly interest on it went from $24 billion to $53 billion.
Accumulated deficit at the end of each fiscal year (March 31). Source: Department of Finance Canada, Fiscal Reference Tables, November 2025.
Interest costs stayed low until 2021–22 because borrowing was cheap. They rose when interest rates did, on a debt that was by then far larger. At 1.7% of GDP they remain below the 2.4% of 2005–06.
Public debt charges by fiscal year ending March 31. Source: Department of Finance Canada, Fiscal Reference Tables, November 2025.
The red line marks November 4, 2015, the day the Trudeau government was sworn in. Every number comes from the official source linked under its chart, and "See the numbers" lists each year's figure, so you can check them yourself.