Canadian Immigration Policy re: Skilled Immigrants

[harpslay]

Needless to say, the Canadian economy is dependent on a steady inflow of immigrants to sustain economic growth. Recently however, as growth rates in the developing world explode, it's become tougher to attract skilled immigrants.

This is a pretty big issue, that's so often ignored. There's lots of issues here (including Provincial qualification standards), but what it comes down to is that we need a policy shift that accounts for a changing balance in the global labour market.

Interesting suggestions on this from the Financial Post on Tuesday involves moving to an "Expression of Interest" model that would prioritize work experience over degrees, and areas of economic "need" over superfluous PhDs etc..

Frankly I'm skeptical about the government's ability to determine what types of jobs the economy really needs specifically (especially when you consider how quickly those "needs" can change over the span of say five years) but this seems like a step in the right direction.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

1. I'm skeptical too.

Particularly with the Harper gang, but previous Liberal governments did a poor job at predicting what the economy needed too. I think the key observation from this article though is the level of 'precarious employment'.

For 20+ years now, our manufacturing sector has been free-traded away, and has not been replaced by anything of substance.

Kids are no longer encouraged or offered an environment conducive to pursuing skilled trades, and value of university undergraduate degrees has become diluted. Experience is not really an asset anymore, and funds for re-training are almost nonexistent. There are plenty of unemployed and underemployed who could fill the gaps needed within the workforce, but the expedient thing to do is recruit immigrants who already have the skills.

The current federal government has repeatedly shown that it's only real concern regarding skilled labour is to help develop the tar sands, and that it believes that the workforce should be a nomadic group willing and able to relocate to wherever there is work. Immigrants fit the bill nicely, because they are ripe for exploitation, and don't demand the pay and standards that traditional organized labour does.

Ideally, a government should be encouraging immigration as way to grow the volume of the economy, not act as a band-aid for some pretty serious systemic economic rot.