Toronto, Nov. 2 -- A new report suggests that despite a drop in temporary resident arrivals this year, Canada may still surpass its immigration targets. According to the immigration report for October by the Association for Canadian Studies, both the International Mobility Programme (IMP) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) are "running ahead of projections," raising concerns that the cuts may be harsher in the second half of the year as Ottawa will try to manage temporary immigration in the coming months. The report noted that the overall target for temporary residents in 2025 is 673,650, including study permit holders and temporary workers. However, the reductions seen so far "do not match the scale of the projected cuts." "Cuts might be much greater in the second half of the year to better approximate the desired goal," the report added. Under IMP, the government's target for 2025 was 285,750., The intake dropped from 410,825 in the first six months of 2024 to 302,280 in the corresponding period this year, a decrease of 26.4% but it has already exceeded the target. Indians saw a fall in numbers, from 109,125 in January-June 2024 to 94,010 over the same period this year, a drop of 14%. Under IMP, employers can hire foreign workers to meet labour needs that align with Canada's interests, like those in technology. For TFWP, the numbers declined from 109,310 to 105,195 or 3.8%. The overall target for 2025 was 82,000. The clear fall came in the category for international students. New study permit holders fell from 245,055 to 149,860 for the six-month period, or 38.8%. Indians suffered a sharper decrease, from 99,950 to 47,695, or 52.3%. The opposition Conservative Party has called for the abolition of TFWP, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said last month that it still had a "role." "We can't just erase this programme but we can definitely improve it," he said. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada or IRCC said it is "committed to returning immigration to sustainable levels, including reducing Canada's temporary population to less than 5%." It has said that the figures in its datasets were for new TFWP visas and also renewals and the former category only totalled 33,722 or 42% of the annual target. The government will release its immigration level plan this month and, given the current sentiment, is likely to reduce newcomer numbers for the years ahead....