When circumstances warrant, the prime minister deserves to be praised — if faintly.

He has been roundly criticized —not least by members of his own caucus — for not listening, and for digging in when it is clear that the government needs to retreat.

Yet on Thursday, he unveiled a new immigration plan that cut the number of newcomers by one-fifth in response to criticism from across the country that the flood of arrivals in recent years has been too dramatic for the housing, education and health-care systems to absorb.