Citing labor shortages across the country, several provincial immigration ministers say they want more control over the immigration process and have sent a letter to their federal counterpart calling for change.
Ministers from Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are urging Sean Fraser, Canada’s minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, to allow their provinces to select more immigrants “with the skills they need most” in a letter sent Tuesday the evening.
“We need the ability to respond to the rapidly evolving needs of specific areas and communities, with a flexible system that we can adapt to changing economic and humanitarian needs,” the letter states.
Ahead of the meeting with Fraser and their fellow immigration ministers in St. John, New Britain, they say Canada needs to do more to attract and retain workers — especially in the skilled trades. They say provinces should be allowed to hire workers and offer them good local jobs.
The letter said the provinces know their local economies best and can choose the newcomers to Canada who have the “best chance of success.”
“We are facing a global race for talent as people around the world look for a better place to build a life for themselves and their families.”
Of the 198,085 people who immigrated to Ontario last year, the province was allowed to select 9,000 — about 4.5 per cent — through the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, which “recognizes and nominates people for permanent residence who have the skills and experience, that Ontario’s economy needs,” the ministry said.
Monte McNaughton, Ontario’s minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, told CBC Toronto that the province wants the federal government to double its funding to select 18,000 skilled immigrants from the 211,000 coming to Ontario this year.
An increase of 700 was given.
Most of the four provinces with the highest number of immigrants in 2021 had similarly low percentages of immigrants eligible to vote, according to data provided by Ontario’s Ministry of Labour. Alberta was allocated 15 percent of its 39,950 immigrants and British Columbia 9.3 percent of its 69,270 newcomers.
The only exception was Quebec, which selected 55.8% of its 50,170 immigrants.
McNaughton said other provincial ministers “are in the same boat” when it comes to labor shortages, but that the most serious challenge is in Ontario, where 378,000 jobs remain unfilled. He said the province is focused on two sectors: health and skilled trades.
“So it makes more sense for the provinces — specifically Ontario — to have a say in the skilled immigrants we need to fill those jobs,” he said.
Several paths to permanent residence
In June, Fraser announced the federal government was working to create a faster path for temporary workers to become permanent residents.
For eight months during the COVID-19 restrictions last year, the federal government gave 90,000 essential workers, frontline health workers and international students a fast track to permanent residency.
The federal government offers several pathways to permanent residency that are generally designed to attract and retain skilled labor. One example is the Atlantic immigration program for skilled workers and international graduates from Canadian schools who want to live in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI or Newfoundland and Labrador.
The program was piloted in 2017 and made permanent this year.
Nova Scotia was able to welcome more than 1,500 more immigrants this year through the Atlantic Immigration Program and its Nominated Province Program. However, it still faces a labor shortage in skilled trades.
Ahead of a meeting with federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, several of his provincial colleagues say Canada needs to do more to attract and retain skilled workers. (Adrian Wild/The Canadian Press)
McNaughton said Ontario processes applications under the Ontario Nominated Immigrant Program within 90 days, compared to the federal government, which takes up to 42 months in some cases. He also said the province was the first to recognize international credentials for certain occupations.
“So if you’re an engineer, if you’re an architect or if you’re in the skilled trades, we’ve now removed the Canadian work experience and really simplified the language test requirements,” he said.
“So we want to make sure that the new Canadians who are already here in Ontario are working in fields that they studied.”
McNaughton said Ontario wants to ensure it fills the province’s skills gap while also supporting immigrants who come through other streams, such as family reunification or as refugees.
“Immigration is not a silver bullet, but it is a key part of the solution to filling the labor shortage.”
McNaughton said the labor shortage is contributing to the high cost of living for Canadians. He pointed to a “looming crisis” with one in three trades over the age of 55.
“I think this is the biggest economic challenge we face as a province and as a country.
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