Maple News reports that temporary workers in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal will not be eligible for Canada’s new TR-to-PR pathway. Immigration Minister Lena Diab told I’m Canada on April 18, 2026 that the program will exclude all Census Metropolitan Areas, the classification that covers Canada’s largest urban centers.
Diab also indicated that she expected ‘much more’ of the full selection criteria to be released in the coming weeks.
Beyond the three cities named, Canada’s CMAs include Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Hamilton, Kitchener–Waterloo, Ottawa–Gatineau, Winnipeg, and Quebec City, among others. Statistics Canada defines a CMA as one or more neighboring municipalities centered on an urban core with a total population of at least 100,000, of which at least 50,000 live in the core. The country has 41 CMAs, home to about 84% of the population according to the 2021 census.
The TR-to-PR pathway is a one-time federal measure intended to grant permanent residence to 33,000 temporary workers over 2026 and 2027. IRCC quietly launched the program in March, with more details expected in April. The pathway targets temporary foreign workers already living and working in Canada, with a focus on those in rural communities.
As background, the first TR-to-PR pathway launched on April 14, 2021, and reached its application cap on July 16 that year. Maple News will continue to monitor developments and provide practical guidance for applicants, including what documents to prep as the program unfolds.