The province’s minister responsible for immigration says the federal government has indicated that if the province agrees to take more asylum-seekers, then its economic immigration spaces may not see as dramatic a cut.
This week, Ottawa announced that it is reducing immigration numbers amid a strain on housing and health care.
The federal government introduced aggressive immigration targets in the wake of pandemic labour shortages, but has had to dial-back on that policy.
The province estimates that it will see a 42 per cent drop in the 3050 economic immigration spaces it gets each year, which is a serious concern for the provincial government.
Minister Sarah Stoodley says Ottawa has already indicated that it may be able to adjust those numbers, but the province needs to “play ball.”
She says the province needs more construction workers and others in various sectors. “I’m really hoping that the federal government gives us our numbers; they’ve said that if we play ball on things like asylum seekers that there’s a higher chance that they’ll give us the number.”
In the meantime, Ottawa also announced a new class of immigration “which I have no information on, which the federal government is going to control completely…so I’m hopeful that there will be something for us in there,” she said.
Small Business Outlines Potential Impact of Immigration Reductions
The President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is “deeply worried” about the impact reduced immigration will have on small businesses across the country.
Photo via CFIB
Dan Kelly says there are so many small, and medium-sized businesses that have struggled to get their products and services to market that have turned to temporary foreign workers or the immigrant population for hard-to-fill vacancies.
He says Ottawa’s latest decision is bad news for small businesses.
“By cutting all of those programs, all at the same time, and in a huge, huge way, these whipsaws are just not helpful for businesses. We just had a tonne of calls from small business owners saying that they’ve got temporary foreign workers in Canada right now, they are soon to have their visa expire, (and) there’s no pathway now for them to stay in Canada. They’re going to have to send home great workers that they need,” he said.
