The Department of Immigration and Skills is planning a series of tech briefings next week with the local business community to outline the latest cuts in immigration allocations to this province and what it means in terms of recruiting workers for local job vacancies.

Ottawa has slashed the province’s annual allocation in half from 3,050 last year to just 1,525 annual for the next three years.

Of that figure, 75 percent will be made up of newcomers who are already here moving to permanent residency.

Under the provincial nomination program, which is used to recruit professionals internationally to fill vacant positions—from restaurant, construction and seasonal workers to nurses and surgeons—the province is limited to just 737 people a year, something Minister Sarah Stoodley says will have a profound impact.

“Currently, 90 per cent of the nurses that we supported through our economic immigration programs, are working outside the St. John’s area. These numbers are bringing health care workers to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We’re going to have to rethink how we doe this in light of these drastic cuts by the federal government. I’m really just shocked.”

The impact isn’t only on government, it’s also on the many businesses who rely on international recruitment for workers. Stoodley says they have tech briefings planned to outline the changes and what they mean, to the local business community.