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Business groups fear refugees and immigrant families will crowd out spaces for foreign workers in Canada

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Lee Berthiaume, Ottawa Citizen | February 21, 2016 | Last Updated:Feb 22 9:52 AM ET
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Chris Young / Canadian PressProvinces and industry groups are waiting for Immigration Minister John McCallum to say whether there'll be fewer economic immigrants entering the country.

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OTTAWA — Provinces and businesses keen to bolster their workforce are worried the push for Syrian refugees this year will lead to a cutback in foreign workers..

The government admits a set number of immigrants each year. In 2015, for example, the Conservative government planned to admit up to 285,000 immigrants. Of those slots, 66 per cent were reserved for economic immigrants; 24 per cent of the slots were for the family members of immigrants; and the remaining 10 per cent were for refugees and other humanitarian entrants.

The federal government is supposed to provide its immigration admission numbers by Oct. 31 each year. Because of last fall’s federal election, the numbers for 2016 haven’t yet been published. The government now has until March 9 to come up with its plan.

But with tens of thousands more refugees being admitted this year compared to 2015, and with the Liberals’ campaign promise to make it easier for immigrants to reunite with their parents and grandparents, the number of slots reserved for economic immigrants may be reduced.

Sam McNeil / Canadian PressCanadian Immigration Minister John McCallum, center, poses for a photograph with a Syrian family.

(Economic immigrants are foreign workers, including business people and skilled tradespeople, who are allowed into Canada on a permanent basis. Those admitted through the controversial temporary foreign worker program fall into a different category.)

Immigration Minister John McCallum said last week he has consulted with industry, as well as refugee groups and other organizations about this year’s immigration levels. But he wouldn’t say whether the government is considering reducing the number of economic immigrants allowed.

Critics often accused the Conservatives of turning Canada’s immigration system into little more than a hiring program, with refugees and families being given short shrift. In 2007, foreign workers represented only 60 per cent of immigration admission targets. with 26 per cent family members and 14 per cent refugees.

Given the state of the Canadian economy, with unemployment rising, some question whether the government should continue to admit tens of thousands of foreign workers, including business people and skilled tradesmen, on a permanent basis.

But provinces, industry associations and experts say economic immigrants are essential for meeting Canada’s labour needs. Some bring skills that are in short supply in Canada, while others are willing to do jobs Canadians won’t. The country’s low birthrate also threatens long-term labour force supply.

“We really need immigrants to drive economic growth,” said Sarah Anson-Cartwright, director of skills and immigration policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. “Economic immigrants make up about 30 per cent of new entrants into the labour force each year.”

Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said economic immigrants are even more important now given that the temporary foreign worker program has been effectively frozen while the Liberals review it.

“The small business community does not want to see economic immigration drop in this country,” he said. “TFW has been rendered largely useless for small businesses.”

Provinces are also counting on the government to keep the levels where they are. One provincial official, speaking on background, said provinces loudly protested when federal immigration officials recently suggested that the number of economic immigrants could be scaled back this year.

“Our hope is it would remain the same or have a modest increase,” the official said.

But that could be difficult because of the Liberals’ promise to reduce the lengthy delays many immigrants face to be reunited with their loved ones, as well as the Syrian refugee crisis.

Under last year’s plan, Canada was expected to accept only about 14,000 refugees from around the world. But Canada will admit at least 25,000 Syrian refugees this year, plus thousands more Colombians, Eritreans and Congolese thanks to previous commitments to the UN.

One option the government could pursue is an overall expansion of the immigration program. Some wonder if the Liberals will become the first Canadian government to admit 300,000 new immigrants in one year. They say such an expansion of the immigration program wouldn’t be prohibitively expensive now that new computer systems at the federal immigration department have reduced the administrative burden.

“I think the government will have its cake and eat it too,” said Vancouver-based immigration expert Richard Kurland. “It will have the political bragging rights that it is the first government to deliver 300,000 immigrants. And the beauty is the operational costs would be low because everything is being done online.”

But an expansion would still cost something, a challenge as the Liberals contend with a worsening economy and a number of other expensive campaign promises.

Until the government reveals its admission numbers, on or before March 9, provinces and industry will be unsettled.

“I’m hopeful adjustments they make this year will be on the margins,” said Anson-Cartwright. “We need those people.”

Comment:

"I win … you lose

It begins.

Immigration policies have always divided Canadians. The discussion was always about whether or not you wanted immigration.

For the first time in living memory we are now openly fighting about the other guy getting a visa…but I can’t. For the first time, an entire sector of society is openly expressing its concerns that the visa system is rigged against them in favour of somebody else.

Employers have finally figured out Ottawa has rigged the visa game against them. But rather than go after government policies, businesses blame the other guys ... the refugees, the families.  

The blame game avoids going after Ottawa for its phony policy of pretending that immigration is a zero sum game with a fixed ceiling. If the other gets something, then there’s nothing left for me.

Government has managed to keep a lid on things by pretending that it is obligated  to give out quotas for each class of immigrations, each trade, each source  country, each sex etc. .

Government loves pretending that it has to cut the pie because this is what makes Ottawa important.

But surprise, surprise…there is no law or regulation placing any ceiling or basement on any aspect of immigration. If we simply grow the pie, then Ottawa would lose importance.

Ottawa has tried to slow down business concern by agreeing to grow the pie … what a novel concept. They must be scared.

Ottawa’s worst nightmare is that once the Pandora’s Box of grievance is open, there will be no end to the blame game... today it’s business complaining about refugees and families. Tomorrow the code words disappear and its whites versus browns, Muslims versus gays, purples versus oranges, everybody against everybody and on it goes until we realize that the king is naked.

What a mess."

Richard Boraks, February 22 2016