The federal government plans to bring in a new immigration program that will allow cities and towns to pick newcomers based on local labour needs.
The Liberals promised to create a municipal nominee program during the election campaign. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau instructed new Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino to begin work on the project in his recent mandate letter.
The plan is to give local communities, chambers of commerce and labour councils a say in the selection of immigrants, helping them match newcomers with labour needs in various communities. At least 5,000 new spaces will be created for the program, according to the mandate letter.
Mendicino said this new pathway to permanent residency is another example of innovation in Canada’s immigration programs, one that allows the system “to draw on local experiences, expertise, capacities to understand where are the labour shortages, where are the economic opportunities and how that information can help us select individuals who wish to come to Canada to ply their trade, to fulfil their opportunity.”
Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino will oversee the government’s plan to bring in 1 million immigrants over the next three years. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
Over the last decade, 75 per cent of Canada’s population growth has come from immigration, and by 2031, immigration is expected to account for 80 per cent of Canada’s population growth, says IRCC.
The government already has a provincial nominee program to attract people with specific skills, education or work experience that could contribute to the economy of a specific region.
Other pilot programs have targeted newcomers to fill jobs in Atlantic Canada and in rural and remote communities.
Leah Nord, director of workforce strategies and inclusive growth for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said labour gaps persist across the country and nearly half a million jobs are going unfilled in many sectors.
‘The way to go’
She said she welcomes the proposed municipal nominee program, adding that “devolving” the decision-making process to those who best understand local needs is “definitely the way to go.”
Under the federal program, a high number of immigrants wind up in the country’s biggest cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax.
This program would help attract and retain skilled workers in smaller and mid-sized communities by aligning immigration intake with the job skills the local community needs, Nord said.
“One of the greatest ways to ensure immigration integration is a success is to have a job, to have labour market integration,” she said. “And that comes from the employer, from the chambers, from the business point of view. Having them involved in the beginning and making them those liaisons is key to success.”
Nord said she expects that under the new program, many newcomers will arrive with job offers already in hand, freeing them up to set down roots in the community and “hit the ground running.”
Aging population
Pedro Antunes, chief economist for The Conference Board of Canada, said a municipal nominee program will allow communities to micro-target immigrants in sectors like construction or resource development.
At a time of aging demographics and declining fertility, he said, immigrants are crucial to Canada’s labour market.
“The economic migrants play a big, big role … in helping us grow our workforce at a time when, if not for immigration, we’d actually be seeing a decline in the number of workers in Canada,” he said.
A May 2019 report from the Conference Board said that by 2030, more than nine million baby boomers will reach retirement age.
Between 2018 and 2040, nearly 12 million people are expected to leave Canadian schools and become workers — far short of the 13.4 million workers leaving the workforce.
Immigration is ‘formative solution’
The report says immigration will remain a “formative solution” and account for all of Canada’s net labour force growth.
Mendicino’s mandate letter also tasks him with implementing Canada’s immigration levels plan to bring a million new permanent residents to Canada over a three-year period.
“This continues our modest and responsible increases to immigration, with a focus on welcoming highly skilled people who can help build a stronger Canada,” his mandate letter reads.
Mendicino is also responsible for working with the provinces and territories to deliver high-quality settlement services to ensure the successful integration of new Canadians, and to measure outcomes with data collection.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
