Immigration Canada

Immigrants will fuel labour-market growth until 2015

BY RAY TURCHANSKY AND MELANIE COLLISON, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM MARCH 6, 2012 1:52 PM

EDMONTON - Only a few years after Canadians were warned of a mass exodus of educated workers to the United States and countries farther afield, a “reverse brain drain” is starting to hit Western Canada in particular.

Amid soaring unemployment rates elsewhere in the wake of a global recession, Alberta faces labour shortages pegged at 77,000 in 2019 by Ernst & Young and 114,278 in 2021 by the government of Alberta. The result is three avenues of incoming workers — from overseas, the U.S., and the eastern provinces.

When immigrants first arrive in Canada, they settle where family and friends live, mostly in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

But once they get their bearings, they assess job prospects, mostly in Alberta.

The province’s population grew by 354,907 from 2006 to 2011, according to Statistics Canada’s newly released census results, and 10 of the 15 fastest-growing cities in Canada are in Alberta.

Given that immigration accounts for two-thirds of Canada’s population growth, it’s clear that growth is fuelled by immigration. Detailed community profiles aren’t out yet, but the numbers tell a story: up 125,000 in Edmonton, 135,500 in Calgary, 14,250 in Fort McMurray/Wood Buffalo and 11,000 in Lethbridge.

“It’s part of a fundamental shift we’re experiencing,” says University of Calgary sociology professor Harry Hiller, the author of Second Promised Land: Migration to Alberta and the Transformation of Canadian Society.

“The thing that has been so compelling is the large number of people moving here from other provinces, more from within the country than outside,” Hiller says.

“Alberta is the dominant magnet for people moving within the country. The magnets for people from outside the country are B.C. and Ontario. Our growth is primarily because of internal migration. Over the last five years, we have had increasing international migration.”

Unemployment rates are roughly four per cent lower in Western Canada than in the U.S., and considerably lower than in other parts of the world. Ontario has joined the Provincial Nominee Program, directing tens of thousands of immigrants to other provinces, while Ontario’s share of national immigration fell from 60 per cent to 40.

“The issue is not going to be encouraging immigrants to Alberta; they will come. The issue will be making sure they have meaningful employment in the areas we have labour shortage,” says Erick Ambtman, executive director of the Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers.

Demand is coming from Alberta’s economic growth in energy, agriculture and health care, Ambtman told the Economic Society of Northern Alberta (ESNA). And supply is hurt by an aging labour force.

“Eventually, we’ll see ways to encourage the aboriginal population to be more engaged in the labour force, people with disabilities, other visible minorities, women, and we need to retain older workers,” he says.

“But all growth in the labour market is expected to come from immigrants until 2015. We are a magnet for anyone who’s mobile, and immigrants are mobile. There will be 114,000 postings, and they’ll be told if they want to work, the place to go will be Alberta. In Ontario, they’ll have a lot different conversation, because they’re trying to figure out how not to lose immigrants. In Alberta, our issue will be how to engage them and give them meaningful work.”

The Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program bolsters immigrant numbers by targeting individuals with skills Alberta needs. About half are between the ages of 25 and 44, more than one-third have university degrees and about 10 per cent come with post-secondary diplomas or trade certificates.

Sandra Miles, of Miles Employment Group in Vancouver, says she had an “unprecedented” 6,500 job applicants from the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand during 2011. International immigration to Saskatchewan during the third quarter of 2011 was the highest for any quarter since 1971.

“The low-hanging fruit is recognition of qualifications, figuring out how a nurse from Manila can be a nurse in St. Albert,” Ambtman said. “Another thing we need is a bridging program, where an accountant from India can learn to say no to the boss. They have to learn how to address the culture of the workforce. Often it’s not a language barrier, it’s a communication barrier. A big part of keeping them here is going to be integration; if they put down roots, marry an Edmontonian or have a group of friends, they’re much less likely to move.

“The shortage will be in skilled labour, and you can’t just take a high school person and address an issue, you have to have people with certain skill sets. We won’t have to send people to university to become accountants, they will come to Canada as accountants.

“But you will need to have managers and individuals who can work with a multicultural labour force. One in five Albertans in Edmonton is an immigrant, 10 years from now it will be one in four, and 20 years from now it’s going to be one in three. Those soft skills are going to be a big part of the answer in terms of ensuring we can incorporate newcomers into the labour force.”

The attraction of Americans will be intriguing.

“I think if you would ask most Americans looking for work, they wouldn’t have the first idea where to look; and actually there are a lot of opportunities not that far away from home for them,” says Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial.

“When you think about our foreign temporary worker situation, there are a lot of strained resources on English as a second language, and the training for new Canadians,” Hirsch says. “With Americans, we wouldn’t have to do that same kind of cultural training.”

An ATB Financial report by economist Will Van’t Veld noted that unemployment among construction workers in some areas of the U.S. exceeds 20 per cent. At the same time, heavy-duty mechanics earn 35-per-cent higher wages in Alberta than in the U.S., while carpenters here make 36 per cent more.

Van’t Veld’s report concludes: “With the Canadian dollar above par, plenty of work opportunities, a favourable wage differential and a tax rate that’s competitive to most states, Alberta is becoming an easier sell.”

But the report concedes the Temporary Foreign Worker Program remains a major stumbling block.

Laura Lochman, consul general of the U.S. for Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, agrees.

“The Canadian private and government sides need to look at ways to facilitate bringing more American workers up,” Lochman told the ESNA conference. “There’s that somewhat arduous process to go through now in terms of the Foreign Temporary Worker Program; Labour Market Opinions (for which an employer must apply before hiring a foreign worker) often take many months and are specific to one company. This could be better managed for a freer flow (of workers) across the border.”

Inside Canada, the movement of workers from East to West was apparent in the recent census, which showed Ontario lost 57,000 people to other provinces. Many of those were young people, eyeing overall provincial unemployment rates of 4.9 per cent in Alberta, 5.0 per cent in Saskatchewan and 5.4 per cent in Manitoba, compared with 8.1 per cent in Ontario. From 2006 to 2011, Edmonton’s population increased 11.2 per cent, to 812,200.

One speed bump restricting migration within Canada is employment insurance rules, as benefits are tied to employment rates in various areas. Workers in places of high unemployment can be off work half as long and receive twice the benefits of people in centres with low unemployment rates, thus restricting movement.

Top 10 source countries 2010:

Philippines 7,781

India 4,241

China 1,917

U.K. & colonies 1,878

U.S.A. 1,071

Nigeria 733

Pakistan 647

Germany 560

Mexico 560

South Korea 538

Source: Alberta Immigration Progress Report 2011

Malcolm Gladwell On Canadian Immigration: It's The Solution To, Not The Cause Of, Economic Problems

Author Malcolm Gladwell understands the importance of countries remaining open to newcomers during times of economic hardship, having immigrated as a child to Canada, where he says he was welcomed "with extraordinary warmth."

"It’s a mistake not to welcome newcomers with open arms because, properly welcomed, history has shown that they make contributions. Canada is a strong country built almost entirely around immigrants," he said.

His comments come as the Conservative government plans to rejig its immigration policies, includingcapping the amount of admissions applications to reduce backlog, while increasing the intake of temporary foreign workers. And while such initiatives may protect the immigration system from overload, some critics fear these and other rules may deter potential newcomers. Not to mention they could harm Canada’s reputation as a welcoming society.

"I would say that keeping that spirit alive is the great challenge," Gladwell says.

Gladwell, New Yorker staffer and author of The Tipping Point, Outliers, Blink, and What the Dog Saw, has a unique view on Canada's multiculturalism. Born to an English father and a Jamaican mother, he immigrated from the UK to Ontario at age six and, having graduated from the University of Toronto in 1984, left for the United States.

HuffPost Canada spoke with Gladwell about immigration’s effect on Canada’s economy ahead of the University of the West Indies benefit gala on March 10, where he and other notable Canadians of Caribbean descent will be honoured.

HuffPost: Though lauded for its multiculturalism, Canada has also been the subject of recent criticism over new, stricter immigration policies. How will that affect newcomers?

Gladwell: Immigration in times of economic difficulty is always a very politically controversial subject, so it doesn’t surprise me that there should be controversy around this. But I think we have to distinguish two things: historically, over this broad sweep of history, Canada has been welcoming, and I guess my only issue would be is this a temporary thing, or does it mark a real shift in perspective? And I hope it’s just temporary.

HuffPost: If so, what can be done to reverse the trend?

Gladwell: I think it’s easier when the economy is strong... Even though, rationally, you could make the opposite argument that when your economy is weak is exactly the time to be welcoming immigrants because that’s when you need the energy and enthusiasm and ideas that immigrants bring. But it’s a simple fact about people that when they get anxious, they get a little more conservative in opening their doors. Part of me thinks that when things get better, this trend will be reversed.

HuffPost: How do you think American and Canadian economies will recover, considering their different immigrant experiences?

Gladwell: I don't know. We do know, as a general principle ... that immigrants tend to be highly entrepreneurial as a group, so any country that allows a lot of immigrants is going to have a kind of entrepreneurial edge. If you look at Silicon Valley, it’s a kind of case study of the benefits of immigration. I mean, a number of start-ups in Silicon Valley that are headed by people not born in the United States or whose parents weren’t born in the United States is astonishing. That would be more of a kind of thing I imagine Canada and the United States would have in common.

HuffPost: Canada’s immigrant experience is by no means perfect. What can the nation do to ensure newcomers’ economic success?

Gladwell: I think the most important thing is not institutional, it’s an attitude thing. The most important thing is that those in Canada have an attitude of warmth and openness to newcomers. That’s not to say all the institutional things and the support mechanisms and the services and things aren’t important – they’re all crucial. But the absolute most important thing is that when you come, you feel like you’re wanted.

Canada sees its highest sustained level of immigration

by RAY CLANCY on MARCH 6, 2012

Canada continued to welcome a high number of immigrants in 2011, according to preliminary data just released by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

There were 248,660 permanent residents in 2011, well within the Government’s planning range of 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents for the year. There were 156,077 economic immigrants and 56,419 family class immigrants.

This figure is consistent with the average of about a quarter of a million immigrants admitted to Canada annually since 2006, the highest sustained level of immigration in Canadian history.

‘Canada’s per-capita immigration rate remains one of the highest in the world. Immigration has always been a sustaining feature of Canada’s history and continues to play an important role in building our country,’ said Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney.

Meanwhile the new Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is proving popular with more than a thousand applications approved in less than three months since the Super Visa programme began. There has been an overall approval rate of 77%.

‘I’m pleased that the Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is working as intended and giving large numbers of eligible parents and grandparents an opportunity to spend extended periods of time with their families in Canada,’ said Kenney.

He explained that the process for getting a Parent and Grandparent Super Visa is simple and straightforward. Applicants for the Super Visa must submit proof that the host child or grandchild meets a minimum income, demonstrate that they have purchased comprehensive Canadian medical insurance and undergo the Immigration Medical Examination. Almost 99% of Super Visa applicants who met these requirements also went on to meet all other standard admissibility criteria which are required for all visa applicants.

The aim is to allow parents and grandparents to follow a natural flow between Canada and other countries without creating an unnecessary burden on the Canadian taxpayer or spinning families into unnecessary stress.

As of February 26, 80% of the finalised Super Visa applications were processed to a final decision within 41 calendar days, well below the target of eight weeks. As application volumes ramp up, Citizenship and Immigration Canada will continue to aim for a Super Visa processing time of eight weeks or less, added Kenney.

Immigration in Canada: renewal of Labour Market Opinion essential to preservation of status

Recent reports from the Canadian business community reflect a growing concern that foreign workers awaiting approval of their Labor Market Opinions (LMO) are in danger of having their work permit renewal applications rejected, requiring them to depart Canada while in mid-assignment. Canadian companies are reminded to apply to obtain a new LMO six months in advance of the expiration of a current LMO in order to allow timely processing by Service Canada.

Canadian immigration law requires that Canadian companies sponsoring foreign workers who do not qualify for either a work permit exemption or LMO-exempt work permit category must apply for an LMO to confirm that the position on offer is genuine and that employment of a foreign worker will have a neutral or positive economic effect on the Canadian labor market. LMO applications are filed with Service Canada and require a positive opinion prior to filing an initial or renewal work permit application with the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

In recent months, there has been an increasing backlog of LMO applications adjudicated by Service Canada due to a combination of factors. As Service Canada officers have moved from emphasizing facilitation of hiring of foreign workers to more monitoring of employer compliance.

Canadian companies filing an LMO-exempt work permit renewal application can expect CIC processing times of between 15-20 days. However, for renewals requiring LMO re-certification, companies should bear in mind that the CIC will only hold open a work permit renewal application for 60 days from date of receipt by CIC. Therefore, it is imperative that companies file a new LMO application with the appropriate Service Canada center at least six months in advance of filing the work permit renewal application with the CIC.

Failure to file a timely LMO application can jeopardize a foreign worker's "implied status" (where the worker can continue working legally if their renewal application has been filed) should the CIC not receive a positive LMO within 60 days of filing the renewal application.

Service Canada is advising Canadian sponsors that there are longer wait times for some regions where there is a larger volume of LMO applications, and other delays are caused by incomplete applications and a more "rigorous LMO assessment process." The department is, however, trying to create a more simplified online application process to cut delays.

Barring a sudden clearing of backlogged applications, foreign workers nearing six months of expiration of status should review with their Canadian sponsors if a new LMO is required to renew status. If so, company HR should work with their Canadian immigration providers to confirm the worker remains qualified to receive a positive LMO and to determine the appropriate time to file in order to avoid rejection of the work permit renewal application by the CIC.

Information provided by Pro-Link GLOBAL, in coordination with Canadian KGNM- Rekai LLP

Canadian Construction Association Strongly Supports the Government of Canada’s Direction Regarding Immigration Reform

Ottawa, Canada, March 05, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The Canadian Construction Association (CCA) was very pleased to learn of the proposed reforms to Canada’s immigration system, as outlined by the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, in his keynote address to the National Metropolis Conference on Thursday.

“Canada’s current immigration system does not adequately address the needs of the Canadian construction industry or the projected growth of the Canadian economy,” said Michael Atkinson, president of the Canadian Construction Association. “On the surface, the reforms outlined sound like they would go a long way to addressing the challenges that employers currently face to bring in skilled workers, which would ultimately contribute to a more competitive Canadian economy.”

With the projected growth in the Canadian economy, particularly in resource-oriented sectors, the need for an efficient construction industry will remain paramount in order to sustain Canadian competitiveness. This also includes building and maintaining the critical core infrastructure required to support those sectors.

According to the Construction Sector Council, projections currently indicate that the Canadian construction industry will experience a shortfall of 325,000 workers by 2019. At the same time, demand for construction services in Canada is expected to continue increasing throughout the decade, elevating Canada’s construction market to fifth-largest in the world.

While domestic efforts to increase skilled worker training in Canada is equally important, Canada’s domestic population growth will not be able to singularly address industry needs. Because of this, immigration will remain a critical component of Canada’s overall economic competitiveness for years to come.

The Canadian Construction Association looks forward to working with the Government of Canada to help make the Canadian immigration system more efficient, and help maintain Canada’s economic competitiveness.

About CCA

The Canadian Construction Association is the voice of the national non-residential construction industry. It represents over 17,000 members in an integrated structure of some 70 local and provincial construction associations. Construction has become a cornerstone of the Canadian economy. The sector employs 1.26 million Canadians or approximately 7 per cent of Canada’s total workforce. Annually, construction is responsible for nearly $90 billion in economic activity or 6 per cent of Canada’s overall Gross Domestic Product.

Olive: Skills shortage highlights faulty thinking on immigration

By David OliveBusiness Columnist

In most parts of the world, the voices sound alike. And that’s not ideal. Canada’s traditional open-door immigration policy is arguably the greatest factor in Canada’s consistently high ranking among the U.N.’s best places to live.One of the reasons I don’t have an iPod is that I like to hear ambient sounds, especially the voices around me. I try to guess Chinese dialects, and from which part of Texas that woman hails from. That man with the turban and the laptop chatting with the woman next to him on the subway, is he a scientist or an entrepreneur?

New arrivals built and build this world’s most nearly-perfect country, from the one Chinese worker who died for every mile of the CPR that was built, to the Jews so prominent in the GTA’s philanthropic network.

Like the Italian émigrés who moved on and up after building our houses and highways, Korean families are now giving way to Iranians and Iraqis in the convenience-store trade.

That Canada’s prudent Big Five banks came through the global financial meltdown with flying colours owes much to their Scottish roots.

We cannot ever properly atone for the head tax we imposed on Chinese in Canada, for incarcerating Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War, for failing to rescue Jews from Nazi extermination. That is our original sin, bound up with chronic mistreatment of our aboriginal population.

The economic blessings of immigration cannot be exaggerated, though the current federal government seems unmindful of that.

Canada has emerged from economic recovery to pre-recession growth rates faster than any of its industrialized peers. But our greater prosperity is held back by shortages of skilled workers in practically every region and vocation. Yet Ottawa has cut the inflow of immigrants from an annual 250,000 to 225,000, trapped by a recession-era mindset that is obsolete.

Yes, we have an intolerably high number of unemployed Canadians.

More than 1.4 million of us are out of work. In the main, these fellow Canadians do not yet have the skills required of a 21st century economy driven by brains rather than brawn. That can be remedied by ensuring that specialized vocational education is accessible (read affordable) to all Canadians who want to be contributors.

The scourge of the credentialed Pakistani heart surgeon relegated to driving cab remains plainly evident on GTA streets. Yet Ottawa has slashed its funding of immigrant settlement services for Ontario by $70 million.

And both Ottawa and Queen’s Park haven’t even tried to break the retrograde guild-like practices of professional credentialing groups that function to keep supply low and incomes high by disqualifying the qualified from practice.

Instead, Ottawa is “cracking down” (a favoured pastime of the Harper government) on immigrant marriages of convenience. While marriage fraud certainly exists, tackling it with the gusto of Stephen Harper’s government misses the big picture.

The big picture is that the industrialized world will soon begin to shrink in population. It is an iron law of demographics, in all societies, that procreation declines as affluence rises.

Already Japan’s population has begun to shrink. Russia’s population is in steep decline. The trend will sweep across Western Europe, where populations in Britain, France, Germany and so on will soon plateau, then begin to fall. The prosperity and influence of those regions will drop accordingly.

Only America, where high fertility rates among the 25 per cent of Americans who are black or Hispanic, will see continued population growth. And it will be significant growth – a projected 40 per cent jump by mid-century. At which point Americans of non-European heritage will for the first time be in the majority.

As a matter of competitive necessity, Canada cannot afford to be left on the sidelines in that stunning U.S. success story of population growth and the greater cultural and intellectual diversity that comes with it.

Our own population is projected to increase, a demographic blessing we share only with the U.S. among mature economies. But it will increase by a modest annual 2 per cent or so over the next decade. We need more new arrivals, and the work ethic, innovative and entrepreneurial instincts, and patriotism for their adopted homelands that they bring.

Given the Ontario Liberal government’s near-panic over its current 30-year-low in share of new immigrants to Canada, and the task force it called into action last Friday to deal with the crisis, one could too easily conclude that the Liberals are traditionally pro-immigration and the Tories less so.

Yet the first, relentless appeal to potential immigrants was made by John A. Macdonald. Real Tories are pro-immigration. Purported converts from the nativist Reform Party, not so much. And it shows.

Foreign workers need link to Sask. jobs

BY WILL CHABUN, LEADER-POST MARCH 5, 2012

When one HR manager in Sudbury, Ont., heard that Louise Van Winkle would be in Toronto, the exec grabbed a colleague, jumped on a plane and flew to see her the same day.

The attraction? Trying to find skilled workers - machinists, in this case - for northern Ontario's burgeoning mining industry.

Van Winkle, a senior manager in the immigration section of the Canadian embassy in Paris, told that story to illustrate the need some Canadian employers have for trained and experienced workers - and how the federal government program for which she works can help them.

As a Saskatchewan delegation went to Ireland last week to search for workers, "we're the mirror image of that, in a way," Van Winkle said. "We're telling employers how they can post their jobs and recruit at a distance."

Employers can recruit workers from Tunisia, for example. Tunisia, the small north African country between Libya and Algeria was much in the news one year ago because of the political revolution that started there, toppled a government, then spread to other Arab countries.

Now Tunisia is quiet, but has fallen on hard economic times. Its government is amenable to emigration of trained workers in the belief this will lower unemployment - and that these workers might someday return home if things look up. It's what Van Winkle calls "circular mobility."

Van Winkle and colleague Marie Pouliot from the Canadian embassy in Tunis were here to tell employers and provincial government agencies about a 10-year-old program that facilitates the migration of workers and, not incidentally, helps minority-language communities.

As they, and Muriel Pagnoni of France's Pole Emploi employment agency, explain, it's a win-win situation for all involved. People get jobs, employers get skilled workers and small linguistic communities - like the francophone one in Saskatchewan - get immigrants to join their community, fill schools and perhaps become entrepreneurs and lifelong members.

They say Tunisia, which has already sent some immigrants to Saskatchewan, is particularly interesting because its trades training program is highly sophisticated and many graduates have the equivalent of a master's degree.

Linguistically, Arabic is the most common language there, but French is in second place and English is widely learned and spoken.

There's enough interest in this program that a delegation of employers from New Brunswick and Ontario went to Paris last autumn and another is scheduled to visit this spring.

Van Winkel said if interested, Saskatchewan's employers should contact Darron Taylor, director of employment and immigration at the Assemblee communautaire fransaskoise in Regina, via direction. ei.acf@sasktel.net.

Pagnoni said there's also interest in immigration to Canada from metropolitan France, where youth unemployment is high and people are reading glowing reviews of Canada's healthy economy.

To that end, Van Winkle said the Canadian embassy in Paris last year issued 14,000 temporary work permits and 6,000 permanent resident visas, adding, "It would be greater if the jobs were more visible."

wchabun@leaderpost.com

Business leaders cite skilled-labour shortage as priority

RICHARD BLACKWELL

From Monday's Globe and Mail

As Canada drags itself through a slow-motion recovery, one of the most pressing issues facing executives across the country is an acute shortage of skilled labour.

The most recent C-Suite survey of Canadian corporate executives shows that despite the high level of unemployment, companies just can’t get all the people they need to fill the skilled positions that are available.

wo-thirds of executives say they are having difficulty finding qualified employees, and one-third say the labour shortage is so severe it is preventing their company from growing as quickly as it could.

With a federal budget coming this month, the executives say they want Ottawa to temper spending cuts with some new investments in skills training, and to open up immigration laws to allow more foreign workers to fill empty jobs.

The problem extends far beyond the oil patch. Executive from the Maritimes to Ontario’s high-tech heartland to Western Canada share similar difficulties in matching employee skills to job openings.

“It is a national problem,” said Francis McGuire, chief executive officer of Moncton, N.B.-based Major Drilling Group International Inc. “It exists everywhere.”

While many of the tough-to-fill jobs are in technical, engineering or information technology positions, Mr. McGuire said, it goes far beyond that. In his company, which conducts intense outdoor work on drilling rigs, “it is very difficult to attract people,” he said. “Salaries are very good … but [people say] they don’t want to be out with the black flies and the snow and the cold and sleeping in camp and being away from home for 21 days at a time.”

Across the country, at trucking firm Trimac Transportation Ltd. in Calgary, chief financial officer Scott Calver said it is becoming increasingly difficult to find professional truck drivers. “It is a problem and it is getting worse,” he said, because many young people are not interested in the long hours required for the job, despite relatively high pay rates.

In Saskatchewan, mining company Golden Band Resources Inc. is having trouble finding geology and mining professionals, CFO Mark Thiel said. The province’s mining boom is creating a sellers’ market for skills, he noted, and the competition for qualified workers is fierce.

And in Waterloo, Ont., Brian Doody, chief executive officer of electronics firm Teledyne Dalsa Inc., said his company would like to expand into some new markets, “but the reality is we can’t get people locally to fill the ranks of our engineering and R&D teams to the level that we need to address those opportunities.”

Despite the fact that the Waterloo region is a centre of high-tech education, “the lack of young people pursuing further education in engineering, science and technology, is definitely a strain on our ability to grow,” Mr. Doody said.

Executives responding to the C-Suite survey clearly put the government on notice that it must deal with this issue. Eighty-nine per cent said increased spending in skills training and apprenticeships should be a high or modest budget priority, more than the 84 per cent who considered spending cuts a high or modest priority.

To deal with the skills shortage, many companies are bringing in employees from outside the country to fill jobs. Almost 50 per cent of the executives surveyed said they are looking at this option as a way to fill specific positions.

It would help if Ottawa streamlined regulations to make it easier to bring in foreign workers, said Jan Hein Bax, president of Toronto-based recruitment firm Randstad Canada. Right now there are restrictions that make this difficult, he said, adding: “I’d like to see the government helping industries to get talent from abroad.” Some executives say the federal government should even help pay for skilled immigrants to obtain Canadian qualifications.

When it comes to budget cuts, the vast majority of C-suite executives aren’t looking for Ottawa to slash spending across the board. More than 50 per cent said it would be wise to keep spending at current levels or make cuts of roughly 5 per cent. Thirty per cent called for a 10-per-cent reduction, and about 8 per cent felt Ottawa should cut more than 10 per cent.

Mr. Doody, of Teledyne Dalsa, said he thinks it would be a mistake for Ottawa to make across-the-board spending cuts in the budget. “I’d be happier to see targeted reduction in areas that are not as helpful to our economy and economic growth,” he said. It is crucial, for example, that the government maintain its commitment to research and development funding, he said. “I’d hate to see that scaled back.”

Mr. McGuire, of Major Drilling, said he recognizes the need for cuts to be made now, but he also feels low-income seniors have to be protected, and there should be significant amounts of money spent to train young people. “We have to absolutely avoid the phenomenon we’ve seen in Greece and Spain where you have 50-per-cent youth unemployment,” he said. “That would be a terrible burden for the country.”

Federal politicians should focus specifically on educating youth in information technology and related fields, he said, as that sector is crucial to the country’s future and will be a huge source of jobs. “If I was policy maker I would throw the whole bucket at it,” said Mr. McGuire, who was once New Brunswick’s deputy minister of economic development.

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Methodology

The quarterly C-Suite survey was conducted for Report on Business and Business News Network by Gandalf Group and sponsored by KPMG.

The survey interviewed 151 executives between Feb. 10 and Feb. 27, 2012. Respondents represent ROB 1,000 companies from across Canada in the manufacturing, service and resource sectors. The margin of error is 7.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Each quarter, a $1,000 charitable contribution is made on behalf of a survey participant. For the December survey, a donation was made to KidSport Calgary on behalf of Laura Cillis, chief financial officer of Calfrac Well Services Ltd.

Want to know more about what Canada’s business leaders think? Watch for coverage throughout Monday on BNN, and go online to ReportonBusiness.com for the full report.

A new immigration point system for Canada starts in 2012

Nicholas KeungImmigration Reporter

A revised points-based selection grid will be introduced to favour young immigrants with strong language skills, says federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Prospective immigrants in licensed professions will need to be pre-assessed to ensure they are likely to get certification in Canada before their applications are processed, Kenney said in Toronto at the annual gathering of Metropolis, an immigration research network that is about to lose its federal funding.

Currently, immigration applicants can skirt the mandatory language requirement by entering through the Provincial Nominee Program, which allows provinces to select immigrants with job offers from local employers.

Under the new grid, to be introduced by the end of the year, Kenney said provincial nominees will face a higher bar as well, because research has shown that language proficiency enhances social and economic integration in the long run.

“We must make better choices. We must select immigrants who have the skills and traits we know will lead to their success, and qualifications that are already recognized in Canada, or can be recognized in a short time,” he said.

While the federal government does not plan to require spouses of applicants in the federal skilled worker program to undergo language tests, Kenney said they will be awarded more points if their spouses are proficient in English or French.

Calling the revised system “more flexible and intelligent,” Kenney said a welder with a job offer in Prince George would not face the same expectations with regard to language skills as someone expecting to work as a physician.

Plans are also underway to change the federal immigration programs for entrepreneurs and investors, though Kenney gave few details.

“In the United States, half of the top 50 venture-capital backed companies are founded by immigrants. We do not nearly do as well in Canada. We must do a better job attracting entrepreneurs and investors to Canada,” he said.

Meanwhile, Kenney said Canada will continue to offer protection to refugees and the family reunification program.

“I strongly believe that economic integration is the best path to social integration,” he said. If new Canadians can maximize their contribution to the labour market, social integration will quickly follow.”