Ontario Premier Doug Ford is scheduled to raise issues related to immigration and skill shortages at a meeting of premiers from across the country next week in Victoria.
The meeting will focus heavily on health care issues, and the premiers hope to push the government to increase Canada’s health transfer funding.
But Ford also highlights labor issues in a statement about his priorities for the meeting, saying more skilled workers are needed to address a “historic job shortage.”
“I know the other premiers agree that the provinces cannot do this alone,” Ford said in a statement. “We need the federal government to work with us to address labor shortages to help ensure our economy stays strong during these challenging times.”
Ontario’s immigration agreement with the federal government expires in the fall, and the province is pushing for more skilled workers and more flexibility in the types of workers it can attract.
Monte McNaughton, the provincial minister for labour, immigration, training and skills development, said in an interview that hundreds of thousands of jobs are unfilled in Ontario and it is costing the economy a lot of money.
“That’s why we’re proposing to renegotiate the immigration agreement between Ontario and Canada that expires this fall, to give Ontario more of a say in how many immigrants and what kinds of immigrants we want to build a stronger economy,” he said. . he told her in an interview.
The province had asked the federal government to double the number of immigrants under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program from 9,000, but McNaughton said he recently received notice that the allocation would increase to 9,700.
“To be frank, this increase is not going to move the metro,” he said. “We have individual businesses in Ontario that are short 700 workers.”
Federal Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Sean Fraser agrees with Ontario that immigration will be essential in a post-pandemic economic recovery, a spokeswoman said. She pointed out that Ontario already receives the highest allocation among the provinces, as well as the most economic immigrants.
“In addition, as announced in Budget 2022, the government also intends to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act to improve Canada’s ability to select applicants who match their changing and diverse economic and employment needs,” he wrote. Aidan Strickland in a statement.
Ontario Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Rocco Rossi wrote an op-ed Friday in the Toronto Sun, calling Ontario’s allocation “grossly insufficient.”
“The labor shortage is being felt across Canada, whether in aviation, construction, hospitality, trucking and health care,” Rossi wrote. “But the provinces cannot solve this on their own.”
Michelle Eaton, the chamber’s vice president of public affairs, said she is hearing about worker shortages at businesses across the province.
“There are very few who don’t talk about having trouble getting the necessary amount of labor that they need for their organizations,” he said in an interview.
“Immigration is not the silver bullet, but it is an important aspect of it. It is important that Ontario has the right people with the right economic skills.”
He also suggested that governments could make immigration pilot projects for rural and remote communities permanent as a way to address regional disparities.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 8, 2022.