A sensible reform for Canadian immigration policy

A better deal for temporary workers (full text not officially online):

This year, the minister will...be expecting about 100,000 very useful foreigners to leave Canada. Their permission to work in this country will be expiring. They are temporary foreign workers, recruited and legally hired by Canadian employers to plug gaping holes in our labour market. They are meat packers, nurses, oil sands workers, cooks, bricklayers, CEOs, nuclear physicists and others who are gainfully employed throughout the country. To qualify for work permits, these foreigners must fill skill shortages, be chosen by Canadian employers in all parts of the country and be qualified in their occupations. When they leave, their employers will struggle to find new workers whose admission also will be contingent on their promise not to remain in Canada.

The 160,000 economic immigrants heralded by [immigration minister] Mr. Solberg will be selected without regard to specific skill shortages; most will arrive without a Canadian job offer and many will lack Canadian level occupational qualifications. Half of them will end up in Toronto; the balance in a few other cities. Their admission is contingent on their promise to remain in Canada.

Welcome to Canada's two-tiered international talent search -- one driven by industry choices (temporary foreign workers), the other by government (economic immigrants). The industry-led program chooses specific people for specific jobs. The government program selects people who fit a profile developed by Ottawa labour market analysts that suggests their potential employability. It is not a stretch to guess which approach is more practical -- and successful...

Why can't our temporary workers become our permanent economic immigrants? Why can't a foreign worker who has already been employed here and has an ongoing job offer simply be processed for immigrant status without leaving the country? We already offer this option to foreign caregivers who have worked in Canada for two years. Why not offer the same deal to foreign nurses, bricklayers, computer programmers and machinists? Ottawa claims to be considering this, but still wants its point charts to be the ultimate arbiter.

They still don't get it. These charts were intended to predict the likelihood of employability of immigrant applicants who had never set foot in Canada. Gainfully employed foreign workers in Canada have already proven their point.

Sure makes sense to me. The current system for economic immigrants, emphasizing education levels rather than real employability, certainly does need to be completely revamped. Moreover, the number of family-class immigrants, especially those over fifty or so who will in most cases simply be a drain on the health care system, must be severely curtailed. Younger relatives might perhaps be given a slight preference but should also be able to demonstrate a good level of employability.

I might also add that, by reducing the transplantation of extended families to this country, the integration of immigrants into "Canadian" society should be accelerated.

A story on the government's immigration plans is here. Increasing numbers is nuts until the system as a whole is changed (by the way, why do those Filipino(a)s--number three on the immigrant list--never seem to be a problem? Catholics who speak English? Mon dieu!). And neither of these facts is a Good Thing:

...Thirty-six per cent of newcomers spoke neither French nor English.

In 2005, nearly 54 per cent of immigrants settled in Ontario, while 17 per cent went to British Columbia...

Put another way, at least 71% of, say, one million people (the great majority non-European) will in the next four years end up in two places. Deux villes, deux (vraiment trois) nations.

Mark C.

Posted by markc at November 6, 2006 05:14 PM