In a renewed effort to show “flexibility” and reach out to the provinces on the Canada Job Grant program, the federal minister responsible, Jason Kenney, has written to the provinces with an olive branch Continue reading
This paper reviews the history of Canadian immigration policies and documents that the present policies impose on Canadians a fiscal burden of $20 billion annually Continue reading
Canadian governments, at both the national and provincial levels, are courting skilled workers such as plumbers, pipefitters, electricians and others from the U.S. and elsewhere. In addition to the program under which Thomas was hired, a category for specific trades began in January to address labour shortages while easing the path to residency, the federal … Continue reading
The federal government plans to tighten up the temporary foreign workers program with new legislation that would require businesses to hire employees from abroad as a “last resort.” Ottawa wants to charge employers a new fee for labour market opinions and increase the existing fees for foreigners’ work permits. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney also announced … Continue reading
Faced with continuing criticisms that foreigners are taking jobs away from Canadians, the Conservative government is rushing to make reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, with officials working to include changes in the upcoming budget bill. However the government’s new-found sense of urgency – which was clearly expressed last week by Prime Minister Stephen … Continue reading
Ottawa has reached a consensus with the provinces to establish a pool of skilled-worker candidates by the end of 2014 that will allow employers to cherry-pick potential immigrants to fill regional labour shortages. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Friday he is committed to working with his provincial counterparts to implement the Expression of Interest (EOI) … Continue reading
Federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says it’s time to hit the “reset button” and temporarily put the brakes on new applications under two programs popular with skilled workers wanting to come to Canada from abroad. Kenney told a business audience Thursday that the government is placing a six-month moratorium on the Federal Skilled Worker Program … Continue reading
The federal government is basing labour market policy on the belief that, as Jason Kenney pithily puts it in today’s Globe, there are “large and growing labour shortages.” Hence moves to bring in even more temporary foreign workers at lower than average wages, and to push EI claimants into supposedly available jobs. Not that the … Continue reading
Ottawa is preparing to tackle one of the country’s most sensitive labour questions: Why won’t healthy, unemployed Canadians get their hands dirty? The Conservative government is preparing legislative and policy changes that, for the first time, will link the federal Employment Insurance program to the Temporary Foreign Worker program. A spokesperson for Human Resources Minister … Continue reading
Canada’s decision to close the files of skilled workers who applied to immigrate before March 2008 will give the country a black eye and deter future immigrants with needed skills, according to a Vancouver immigration lawyer. The federal government plans to return applications and refund fees for nearly everyone who applied under the program before … Continue reading
The federal government’s new plan to hire a private firm to assess the educational credentials of potential immigrants is wise. The significance of degrees and professional certificates varies widely and wildly from place to place (country to country and sometimes even city to city) across the world and across disciplines and specialties. The federal bureaucrats … Continue reading
The federal government plans to create a global job bank to bring in more skilled foreign workers, while using a new technique to end the “bizarre” situation in which low-skilled temporary foreign workers are hired in Canadian communities with double-digit unemployment, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said Friday. The job bank idea, modelled after New Zealand’s … Continue reading