Ottawa will help Canadian companies with skilled labour shortages by fast-tracking the process for bringing skilled foreign workers to Canada.
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) yesterday announced it is enhancing its Labour Market Opinion program.
The existing program allows employers to bring skilled workers to Canada for positions they are finding hard to fill domestically.
It includes a declaration that the worker or workers in question would not be taking a job that might be filled by a qualified Canadian.
Under an enhanced version of that program, there will be less paperwork and HRSDC will issue an opinion within 10 days.
The Accelerated Labour Market Opinion Initiative only applies to skilled positions such as management and professional and technical occupations. It does not apply to the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program, nor to the film and entertainment sectors.
A boom in industrial development in northern B.C. is expected to drive up the demand for skilled workers. Meanwhile, Vancouver’s high-tech sector has been pushing for changes that would make it easier for highly skilled engineers and developers to be recruited to the province. (See “Talent search 2012 intensifies” – issue 1160; January 17-23, 2012.)
Seaspan Marine alone expects it will need 800 to 1,000 more workers to fulfill its portion of the national shipbuilding contract.
According to a Conference Board of Canada report, Canada will need to increase the 260,000 immigrants it admits per year to 375,000 “in order to stabilize the workforce and ensure economic growth.”
In 2010, 44,183 immigrants settled in B.C., 6,208 of whom were admitted as skilled workers. Another 10,451 arrived as spouses, children or parents of those skilled workers.
