Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - April 2007
Canada's immigration system is the focal point of much consternation as labour shortages and near-record employment levels fuelled by Alberta's booming economy have employers clamouring for foreign workers.
Within the following weeks Alberta's Conservative government, along with the Federal Tories, will announce a new immigration arrangement between the province of Alberta and the Federal Government which will "essentially have Alberta take over its file". Although the details aren’t yet known, it is expected that the immigration deal will ultimately give the province more control over the type of immigrant worker it needs.
Alberta faces great concerns about worker shortages and acquiring the work force required to feed its booming economy. Columnist Licia Corbella writes that the new strategy would include a practice of having permanent residency files expedited if the applicant is skilled within an industry which is experiencing extreme labour shortages, providing Alberta with the ability to meet the labour shortages in various markets.
The proposal that Alberta should gain greater control over the federally dominated area of immigration is one of the proposal in the "infamous "Alberta firewall" agenda, co-authored by now-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and now-Alberta MLA Ted Morton".
Should Alberta be granted the right to maintain a greater control over immigration, it will join Quebec as the second province in being able to decide their own immigration policy to best suit the economic and cultural needs of the province.
At present, many argue that in Alberta the approval times for much-needed skilled foreign workers are uncertain, absurd, and "beyond words". Businesses in Alberta are straining with the labour shortages and the call to reduce overall processing times is coming from a wide gamut of Alberta employers who are grappling with a chronic shortage of workers.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business reported that Alberta had an estimated 62,000 full-time and part-time positions -- in small-and-medium sized businesses alone -- that went unfilled for at least four months in 2006, twice the number from the previous year. Alberta's long-term job vacancy rate was also the highest in Canada.
It's still widely expected that the current labour shortage will become even more critical in the next decade as provincial forecasts estimate that 400,000 new jobs will be created in Alberta between 2004 and 2014, but only about 300,000 new workers will enter the labour market.
Over the past six months, the federal government has ushered in a series of piecemeal changes to the temporary foreign worker program in an effort to address pressures that have left potential workers and employers frustrated. Employers and analysts stress the need for something to be done to speed up processing times, as Canada is in some instances losing highly skilled talent to places like Australia -- which completes the process in about a year.
Sources:
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/Opinion/Editorials/2007/03/31/3878969.html
http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/2007/03/31/3879421-sun.html
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/calgarybusiness/story.html?id=630f0751-9d53-4869-95fb-4f6fe9f4a24c
