This was originally intended to be a YouTube only episode but several podcast listeners asked that we add it to the audio-only feed as well.

A break down the new Express Entry categories announced on February 18, 2026, with a particular focus on the senior managers with Canadian work experience category.

Key topics include:

Why this category generally does not help entrepreneurs or owner-operators.

How IRCC assesses self-employment.

What it really means to be a senior manager (NOC 00).

Federal Court cases discussed on what constitutes "senior management" include Recursive Craft Inc. v. Canada (Employment and Social Development), 2022 FC 1206, and Merijohn v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 1003.

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As of November 2025, internal IRCC projections reveal a stark reality about Canada’s security screening system. Based on recent processing times by partner agencies and current inventory levels, permanent residence applications referred for comprehensive security screening are projected to take approximately 64.8 months to complete. For temporary residence applications, the projected timeline is 30.3 months.

Lev Abramovich joins to break down what these projections actually mean and current issues with security screening.

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Josh Dehaas, Interim Litigation Director at the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF), joins to walk through the Federal Court of Appeal’s Emergencies Act decision, often referred to as the “Freedom Convoy” case.

Topics discussed include what actually happened in Ottawa in early 2022, why existing laws were already available to address blockades, what it practically meant when the Emergencies Act was invoked nationwide, protest bands, the freezing of bank accounts and why public support for extraordinary measures can be durable.

Guest: Josh Dehaas, Interim Litigation Director, Canadian Constitution Foundation

CCF podcast: Not Reserving Judgment

Chapters / timestamps

4:38 – Setting the stage: COVID restrictions, mandates, and public frustration

11:45 – Border blockades

22:50 – What invoking the Emergencies Act meant nationwide

29:28 – Was there a coherent convoy “message”?

31:24 – Did it accelerate the end of restrictions? (Ontario vs. federal)

35:32 – What this says about Canada, public opinion, and civil liberties

40:09 – What the Federal Court / FCA held (speech, search/seizure, emergency threshold)

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Jonathan Leebosh is a recently retired partner and longtime leader of EY Law’s immigration practice in Vancouver.

In this episode Jonathan reflects on a career that took him from refugee camps in Hong Kong with the UNHCR to building a corporate immigration practices inside a Big Four firm.

Topics discussed include how EY Law scaled, serving multinational corporate clients, managing people, policy innovation, the growing role of national security in immigration decisions, processing delays, and advice for young lawyers and consultants hoping to move from individual files to corporate work.

07:20 – Building EY Law’s corporate immigration practice

16:30 – Managing people vs. practicing law

24:00 – Policy innovation and lobbying

41:30 – The state of Canadian immigration

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Canada is deliberately slowing, and possibly reversing, its population growth. But what does that actually mean for the economy?

We are joined by economist Mikuel Scutterat for a wide-ranging and candid conversation about Canada’s immigration reset, GDP per capita, shrinking rental markets, Express Entry category draws, francophone targets, regional programs, and the political risks of a rapidly changing system, winners and losers when immigration rises or falls, why focusing on “essential workers” may be bad long-term policy and social cohesion.

03:06 – Does population size actually matter for prosperity?

10:45 – Falling rents and distributional effects

15:01 – Human capital vs labour shortages

20:39 – Are French targets distorting outcomes?

Listener Questions

32:55 – Economics of mass regularization

39:02 – Regional immigration targets

43:39 – Country caps

48:57 – Underemployment

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In this audio-only reunion episode, former Borderlines Podcast host Peter Edelman joins to discuss life on the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

Topics discussed include how decisions get made and written, the role of counsel in shaping outcomes, pressures facing Canada’s judicial review system, judicial collegiality and dissenting reasons, immigration backlogs, adversarial justice, and the emotional weight of judging.

2:16 – Learning curve: trial court vs appellate court

6:31 – Does good lawyering really matter in judicial review?

19:28 – Precision in judgments & unintended interpretations

23:40 – Dissents, concurrences & shaping the law

27:17 – Should judges clarify controversial rulings later?

33:06 – Rethinking adversarial justice

49:06 – Is it easier to judge or be judged?

55:07 – Does being a judge change personal decision-making?

https://youtu.be/nJ8kM4zJLdU?si=5L4nmGJz5eaKbXAm

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Canada is increasingly turning to immigration to address a growing healthcare shortage, but is the system actually built to absorb more doctors?

Steven Meurrens and Deanna Okun-Nachoff are joined by Dr. Brian Day (orthopedic surgeon and past president of the Canadian Medical Association) to unpack how policy decisions created today’s physician and nursing shortages, why hospitals ration care under fixed budgets, and what that means for internationally trained doctors trying to build careers in Canada.

Topics discussed include the decline of family medicine, ER overcrowding, delayed diagnosis and higher long-term costs, Canadians seeking faster care abroad, credential recognition, new pathways for physicians, medical inadmissibility and more.

Follow Dr. Brian Day on X/Twitter: @drbrianday

Timestamps

02:53 — 1990s cuts

10:29 — “Rationing” healthcare

22:21 — Canadians going abroad for treatment

28:10 — Immigration meets healthcare

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The first Borderlines episode of 2026 is our annual recap + predictions roundtable with Ottawa immigration lawyer Tamara Mosher-Kuczer. We look back at what actually happened in 2025, what surprised us most, and what 2026 might bring.

Timestamps / Chapters

0:52 Looking back: how many predictions were right last year?

14:40 2026 predictions

39:46 Listener question: What will happen with caregivers?

42:28 Listener prediction: Turning asylum into a temporary pathway

46:11 Listener question: Trades vs. Francophones

52:12 Listner question: LMIA exemptions / significant benefit work permits—any expansion?

57:56 Will Canada's population increase or decrease in 2026?

Subscribe for weekly immigration law breakdowns and policy updates, and tell us: What’s your boldest 2026 immigration prediction?

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Amandeep Hayer and Lisa Middlemiss, co-authors of the book Canadian Citizenship: What Practitioners Need to Know, discuss citizenship by descent now that Bill C-3 is in force.

Topics discussed include what changed under Bill C-3, citizienship by descent, how far citizenship can be traced back, proving citizenship without provincial birth certificates, interim measures vs. proof of citizenship applications, processing times, urgent requests, Canadians without proof who can’t get work permits or SINs, why adoptees may still be treated differently, fraud concerns, and how many Americans may now be Canadian citizens.

We also answer live listener questions and comments, including whether Canada will now have to many new Canadians, a possible TR → PR pathway, work permit options for foreign doctors, slow processing times, Bill C-12 and Canadian immigration law predictions for 2026.

Amandeep's blog post on Bill C-3 can be found here - https://hayerlawoffice.ca/2025/11/03/no-bill-c-3-does-not-create-a-new-second-generation/

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