CBC: P.E.I urged to press pause on immigration, while health care and housing feeling the pinch

As population growth continues to place a strain on health care and housing on Prince Edward Island, there are renewed calls for the provincial government to ease back on immigration programs to give services a chance to catch up.

For years, Canada's smallest province has had one of the fastest-growing populations in the country. The latest estimate from Statistics Canada showed P.E.I. growing at an annual rate of four per cent, with 175,853 residents as of Oct. 1, 2023.

In the past month, both the province's health minister and the outgoing head of the provincial health authority have spoken about the struggle of maintaining services in the face of population growth.

The most recent statistics on rental vacancies showed P.E.I. had the tightest provincial rental market in the country, with an apartment vacancy rate of less than one per cent.