Connelly: Even high-wage temporary foreign workers are at risk of exploitation

2023/06/03 Leave a comment

Haven’t seen much written one the higher-wage Temporary Foreign Workers or the kind of anecdotes and studies that we see on agricultural and other lower-wage workers.

So the extent to which this is more theoretical (same general points apply to all TFWs), or a real issue is unclear (and Connelly doesn’t indicate that any surveys or other assessment of on-the-ground reality was undertaken which may have been included in her book):

When we think of temporary foreign workers, we usually think of agricultural workers and nannies: vulnerable workers at risk of exploitation. But not every temporary foreign worker does this kind of work. What about software engineers, accountants, and technicians? Unfortunately, they are also at risk.

Many Canadians assume that high-wage temporary foreign workers are less vulnerable because they have more resources at their disposal. But their high incomes and education levels are not enough to protect them.

Temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream are vulnerable to exploitation because they have closed work permits. With only a few exceptions, they are only allowed to work for the company that hired them. Even when they are aware of their employment rights, they are often reluctant to do anything that they believe could jeopardize their employment, such as complaining to their boss, their HR department, or the government. Most high-wage temporary foreign workers are hoping to apply for permanent residency through a provincial nominee program, and they are concerned that any complaints will be held against them. And even though many high-wage temporary foreign workers eventually become permanent residents, they still have closed work permits while they navigate this process. And in the meantime, they may endure a lot.

High-wage temporary foreign workers are lucrative targets. Because their wages are relatively high, unscrupulous companies have a financial incentive to pay them less than their contracted wage. For example, instead of paying them the agreed-upon $30 per hour, a company may decide to only pay them only $27 per hour: a 10 per cent discrepancy. This pay cut of course violates the temporary foreign worker guidelines, which stipulate that all temporary foreign workers must be paid the agreed-upon wage for the duration of their contracts. They also must be paid at least the local median wage for their occupation.

Three dollars in wage theft may not sound like much, but it adds up. If that employee works 40 hours per week, this represents a savings to the employer of about $6,240 per year, per employee.

Because high-wage workers are so qualified, they are frequently asked to perform extra tasks that are not in their contracts. For example, they may be asked to manage a team or take on more important or complicated responsibilities with less supervision. Many temporary foreign workers are overqualified for their positions, so some companies use this as an opportunity to require them to do extra work without compensation, even though this violates the rules of the temporary foreign worker program.

Companies that have difficulty retaining Canadians because of poor management skills may turn to temporary foreign workers specifically to lower rates of staff turnover. While Canadians and foreign workers recruited through the International Mobility Program (e.g., from a country that has a free trade agreement with Canada) can quit, high-wage temporary foreign workers, who might be doing the exact same job, do not have the same options. In addition to wage theft and unrealistic performance expectations, high-wage temporary foreign workers frequently have to deal with abusive supervisors. 

The solution is to harmonize the high-wage temporary foreign worker program with the International Mobility Program to ensure that these workers all have the same rights. That is, high-wage temporary foreign workers would receive open work permits that would enable them to change employers more easily. A further advantage of open permits is that companies could then promote high-wage temporary foreign workers, or move them to where they are needed.

One could argue that open permits would be inconvenient for employers, because mistreated high-wage temporary foreign workers may quit if their work permits do not force them to stay with their employer. However, employers could adopt the same management strategies that they use to prevent their Canadian or International Mobility Program employees from quitting: careful recruitment, fair treatment, and reasonable wages.

In discussions about temporary foreign workers, those in the high-wage stream are often overlooked. There are not so many of them: only 45,867 were approved to come to Canada in 2022. But as Canadian companies address ongoing labour market challenges, more are likely to be hired. High-wage temporary foreign workers are an important part of the Canadian workforce, and they need the same protections as Canadians.

Catherine Connelly is a Canada Research Chair in organizational behaviour at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University, and the author of Enduring Work: Experiences with Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Source: Even high-wage temporary foreign workers are at risk of exploitation

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Meggs: Au-delà de l’Initiative du siècle

2023/06/02 Leave a comment

Good commentary on how the steep rise in temporary residents, particularly students, has effectively resulted in Canada and Quebec no longer managing levels and pace of immigration, with a sharper disconnect between Quebec, given relatively lower permanent residency levels, than in the rest of Canada:

On a tendance à interpréter la hausse comme étant une politique délibérée et idéologique, mais il y a aussi le concours de circonstances qui a fait en sorte que les propositions de l’Initiative du siècle, alignées certes avec le discours d’ouverture et de diversité du Parti libéral du Canada, sont tombées à un moment où Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada (IRCC) commençait à perdre le contrôle sur l’immigration canadienne. 

C’était inévitable. Le Canada ne pouvait augmenter sans limites son immigration temporaire, invitant en particulier les étudiantes et étudiants étrangers à venir et à rester, sans augmenter ses seuils d’immigration permanente.

Politiquement, il ne peut renvoyer les personnes diplômées au pays et ayant contribué à l’économie canadienne pendant plusieurs années. D’où les programmes spéciaux récents et annoncés de régularisation des personnes à statut temporaire, ainsi que des personnes non documentées, un autre phénomène qui augmente avec l’immigration temporaire. 

Le gouvernement de la CAQ affectionne plutôt le Programme de travailleurs étrangers temporaires (PTET)⁠1. Au Canada, au 31 décembre 2022, les titulaires de permis de ce programme représentaient 7,5 % de l’ensemble des titulaires de permis des trois programmes d’immigration temporaire. Au Québec, ils en constituaient 17,5 %. Comme le Canada, le Québec augmente le nombre de travailleurs temporaires, mais, contrairement au Canada, le Québec refuse d’augmenter ses seuils d’immigration permanente. 

Des résultats chaotiques

Ultimement, les résultats sont chaotiques et marqués par l’improvisation : 

– les délais de traitement des demandes de certificat de sélection du Québec (CSQ) s’étirent pour l’ensemble des catégories permanentes – économique, familiale et humanitaire. Ce document est délivré par le ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration (MIFI) et est préalable à la résidence permanente au Québec ; 

– le Québec ralentit sa sélection pour ne pas dépasser les seuils permanents planifiés ; 

– IRCC ralentit aussi la délivrance des visas de résidence permanente pour les détenteurs du CSQ pour ne pas dépasser les seuils établis par le Québec ; 

– de plus en plus de personnes immigrantes francophones⁠2 – temporaires au Québec et permanentes de l’étranger – décident de faire leur demande de résidence permanente dans une autre province. (Un cadeau au fédéral qui veut augmenter l’immigration francophone hors Québec.)

Jetant la responsabilité des délais de traitement des demandes de résidence permanente sur IRCC et la pandémie, Jean Boulet, ancien ministre du MIFI, a négocié avec le fédéral un permis de travail temporaire ouvert dans le cadre du Programme de mobilité internationale. On l’appelle le PMI+. Ce permis, aussi délivré par le fédéral, est offert aux personnes avec un CSQ en attente de leur résidence permanente. Il permet à celles déjà au Québec de continuer à travailler ici et à celles à l’étranger de venir s’établir en sol québécois. 

Mais si le Québec refuse d’augmenter ses seuils d’immigration permanente, ses gens vont demeurer avec un statut temporaire très longtemps.

Le prochain phénomène qu’on risque de voir sera celui des personnes francophones sélectionnées par le Québec et travaillant au Québec avec un permis PMI+ qui décident de déménager et de faire une nouvelle demande de résidence permanente dans une autre province parce qu’elles se lassent de l’attente et qu’elles veulent pouvoir planifier leurs vies. 

Le gouvernement a beau promettre de sélectionner 100 % d’immigration francophone, les délais pour obtenir la résidence permanente font perdre au Québec des personnes immigrantes francophones au profit d’autres provinces ou territoires. Où est la logique ? Si ces personnes souhaitent s’établir au Québec, elles peuvent y venir à la suite de leur admission au Canada, car il n’y a pas d’obstacles à la mobilité des résidents permanents. Mais cela a pour effet de laisser au fédéral et aux autres provinces la sélection. 

Les consultations organisées par le MIFI qui auront lieu dans les prochains mois établiront les paramètres de l’immigration au Québec pour au moins trois ans sans pour autant fournir une vision d’avenir. Ce n’est pas de la planification, mais plutôt de la gestion réactive dont les résultats continueront d’être chaotiques. Il ne suffit pas de dire où l’on ne veut pas aller en dénonçant l’Initiative du siècle. Il s’agit de répondre à une autre question : où va-t-on, et surtout, où veut-on aller ? 

Il est crucial que le gouvernement soit entièrement transparent sur l’ensemble des enjeux, tant envers la population d’accueil sur la façon dont il propose de gérer le nombre et le rythme des arrivées qu’envers les personnes qui arrivent sur les dures réalités de leur statut. La question de l’immigration temporaire sans limites présente trop d’enjeux négatifs pour être exclue du débat. L’objectif est un retour à un système d’immigration permanent fonctionnel. 

Source: Au-delà de l’Initiative du siècle

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Les tests de français «made in France» seront adaptés au contexte québécois

2023/06/02 Leave a comment

Following the backlash:

La ministre de l’Immigration, Christine Fréchette, convient qu’il faut « mieux adapter » au contexte québécois les tests de français pour les immigrants, mais elle ne compte pas pour autant exiger que ces examens soient conçus au Québec.

« Il faudrait à tout le moins que les tests soient mieux adaptés au contexte québécois. Il y a des références au Québec qui ont déjà été introduites dans plusieurs des tests standardisés. On veut que ça se poursuive, comme travail », a déclaré la ministre mercredi, lors de la période des questions.

Elle était interrogée par la députée Ruba Ghazal, de Québec solidaire, au sujet d’un dossier du Devoir qui révèle les écueils des tests pour l’immigration. Ceux-ci sont conçus en France et sont truffés de références européennes.

La ministre Fréchette a refusé de s’engager à confier la production des tests à une organisation québécoise, comme le lui suggérait Mme Ghazal. « On va continuer à procéder à ces analyses-là jusqu’à ce qu’elles soient complètes, et on verra quelles sont les pistes d’action », a-t-elle affirmé.

« Bonne chance de demander à des Français d’adapter le test à notre réalité québécoise avec notre accent québécois. J’ai hâte de voir ça », a répondu avec ironie sa collègue solidaire.

Des changements demandés

En matinée, les partis d’opposition ont pressé Québec de faire mieux. « Il est temps que ces tests-là soient revus, a lancé André Fortin. Je pense qu’on est capables de fournir [aux immigrants] un bien meilleur accueil et de leur présenter notre langue sous un bien différent angle. »

« Franchement, les tests de français pour les immigrants devraient être faits au Québec, a lâché Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, de Québec solidaire. Pour bien mesurer l’intégration d’un immigrant au français québécois, il faut avoir des outils québécois. François Legault se présente comme le chevalier du français. Ça fait dur, là, d’utiliser des tests faits en France. »

Le député péquiste Pascal Bérubé a déclaré que les tests devraient être « adaptés à notre réalité ». « Et on a une expertise pour ça », a-t-il précisé.

Les deux instances françaises, dont France Éducation international, assurent que les tests ont déjà été adaptés. La Chambre de commerce et d’industrie de Paris Île-de-France, qui en fait passer deux sur huit, affirme avoir reçu « une demande forte de la part du ministère de l’Immigration, de la Francisation et de l’Intégration d’inclure davantage de référents culturels québécois ». Elle avance aussi que l’accent québécois « est présent à 35 % environ dans l’épreuve de compréhension orale ».

Le Devoir a cependant constaté, en allant passer le test, que cette proportion est nettement surévaluée : seuls quatre enregistrements sur plus d’une quarantaine présentent un accent québécois. Ces enregistrements sonores permettent aux participants de répondre à 51 questions.

Source: Les tests de français «made in France» seront adaptés au contexte québécois

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Canada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’

2023/06/02 Leave a comment

As expected:

Immigration applicants with experience in any of five sectors could be selected for permanent residence through a new system designed to better align newcomers with Canada’s labour market needs.

On Wednesday, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser launched the highly anticipated “category-based selection” — better known as the “targeted draw” of skilled immigrants — which was first announced last June.

In additional to focusing on picking those with strong French language proficiency, the new tool will target those in the talent pool with a background in five key occupational sectors:

  • Health care;
  • Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) professions;
  • Trades, such as carpenters, plumbers and contractors;
  • Transport; and
  • Agriculture and agri-food.

“Everywhere I go, I’ve heard loud and clear from employers across the country who are experiencing chronic labour shortages. These changes to the Express Entry system will ensure that they have the skilled workers they need to grow and succeed,” Fraser said in a news release.

“We can also grow our economy and help businesses with labour shortages while also increasing the number of French-proficient candidates to help ensure the vitality of French-speaking communities. Put simply, Canada’s immigration system has never been more responsive to the country’s social or economic needs.”

The job categories have been determined following public consultations, as well as a review of labour market needs. A complete list of eligible jobs for the new categories is available on the immigration department website.

Currently, applicants for skilled immigration programs enter into the Express Entry pool, where they are given points and ranked based on attributes such as age, educational achievements, language proficiency, work experience and availability of a job offer.

Regular draws are conducted to invite those with the highest scores to apply for permanent residence. However, the system doesn’t allow the immigration department to overrule the ranking system and pick a candidate in an “in-demand” profession if the person’s score doesn’t meet the thresholds of those draws.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased by 78,600 or 8.2 per cent to 876,300, marking the second consecutive quarterly decline.

The number of unfilled jobs fell in 16 of 20 broad industrial sectors, particularly in accommodation and food services (-21,400) and administrative and support, waste management and remediation services (-15,800).

Job vacancies also fell in seven of 10 broad occupational groups, including trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (-22,200) and sales and service occupations (-20,100).

There were 147,300 job vacancies in health occupations in the fourth quarter, little changed from the record high reached in the third quarter.

Fraser said further details on the timing of invitations for individual categories and how to apply will be announced in the coming weeks.

Source: Canada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’ jobsCanada launches new immigration program to fill ‘in-demand’ jobs

And criticism from labour economists:

MIKAL SKUTERUD, the director of the Canadian Labour Economics Forum, took issue with a minister meddling in a system for grading talent that is supposed to be apolitical. He wrote that he was concerned the immigration system will fall unduly under the influence of business lobbyists.

“If the objective of the policy is to target skilled candidates with work experience in the sectors listed in the news release, why were these applicants unable to satisfy the selection criteria of the existing Express Entry system?” he wrote to PTM. 

“The only possible answer I can think of is that this reform seeks to bypass the [Comprehensive Ranking System] which, in effect, means providing eased pathways to PR status for immigrants with lower skill levels and lower expected earnings.”

The Comprehensive Ranking System is the existing method by which the government scores the workforce potential of prospective economic immigrants.

Bringing in immigrants who earn less than would otherwise be the case could inhibit GDP per capita and standard of living growth, wrote Skuterud. 

CHRISTOPHER WORSWICK, who teaches the economics of immigration at Carleton University, wrote: 

“I am generally not in favour of this novel, category-based selection method. It would be better to focus on improving the Comprehensive Ranking System. This seems like a step backward from what had been a human capital-based (or expected earnings-based) selection process. I suspect this is designed to allow the government to choose less-skilled applicants to satisfy the demands of different business lobby groups.”

Worswick wrote that he suspected that some of the newly prioritized industries and occupations in trades contracting, transport, and agriculture could lead to an influx of low-earning immigrants.

“If we bring in workers whenever employer groups say there is a ‘labour shortage,’ we risk keeping wages low and hurting lower-wage workers in Canada who may need wage growth, especially given our challenges with inflation. We should focus on bringing in economic immigrants with the highest human capital (as measured by expected earnings),” he wrote.

Source: https://hilltimes.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a90bfb63c26a30f02131a677b&id=0071de5ea4&e=685e94e554

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Jedwab: Immigration versus the protection of French in Quebec 

2023/06/01 Leave a comment

Jack’s commentary:

There now appears to be a political consensus in Quebec that the greater the number of immigrants that come here the more the French language is threatened. That’s the inevitable takeaway from a unanimous motion recently adopted by the National Assembly declaring that the federal government’s plan to admit 500,000 newcomers to Canada each year is incompatible with the protection of the French language. Such declarations by elected officials risk encouraging even more Quebecers to regard immigrants as a threat.

While the motion targets immigrants and the federal government, it would seem to be directed toward those Quebecers who are repeatedly reminded that French is under siege and being told who to blame. While politicians might do such things, Quebec’s Ministry of Immigration, Francisation and Integration conveys a very different message. In its proposed immigration level plan for 2023, the minister,  Christine Fréchette, states:

“Immigration remains part of the answer to the sociolinguistic, demographic and labour force issues facing Quebec. Immigrants bring a diversity of talents to Quebec and everything must be done to facilitate their integration. Your government wants immigration to contribute to the dynamism of the Quebec economy in all its regions and to the vitality of the French language.”

It adds: “Immigrants of all origins can find their place in Quebec society and contribute to the survival of the French language, to the prosperity of our regions and to a harmonious and diversified community.”

The motion from the National Assembly serves to reiterate the frequent call to repatriate immigration powers from Ottawa that presumably prevent Quebec from fully controlling its immigration policies and programs. But the ministry points to the considerable authority the government has when it comes to immigration and newcomer integration. The existing “Canada-Quebec immigration agreement,” it says, “allows Quebec to fully assume its responsibilities with respect to immigration levels planning, selection, francization and integration of immigrants.

The ministry goes on to note that, under the agreement, “Quebec is responsible for the selection of economic immigrants, refugees abroad and applications processed on humanitarian or public interest grounds.”

Quebec politicians need to be a good deal more specific when they talk about the immigration powers they must acquire to counter the grave threat to French that newcomers purportedly constitute. It’s true the processing of refugee claims made domestically is the exclusive responsibility of Ottawa. Are we to believe the few thousand vulnerable persons who annually seek asylum and end up in Quebec are the source of the threat to the French language?

In the aftermath of the election of the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2018, the government reduced the numbers of immigrants who were to be admitted to Quebec, demonstrating that the projected annual immigration levels targeted by the federal government do not directly bear on Quebec’s desired yearly intake.

The ministry goes on to note that, under the agreement, “Quebec is responsible for the selection of economic immigrants, refugees abroad and applications processed on humanitarian or public interest grounds.”

Quebec politicians need to be a good deal more specific when they talk about the immigration powers they must acquire to counter the grave threat to French that newcomers purportedly constitute. It’s true the processing of refugee claims made domestically is the exclusive responsibility of Ottawa. Are we to believe the few thousand vulnerable persons who annually seek asylum and end up in Quebec are the source of the threat to the French language?

In the aftermath of the election of the Coalition Avenir Québec in 2018, the government reduced the numbers of immigrants who were to be admitted to Quebec, demonstrating that the projected annual immigration levels targeted by the federal government do not directly bear on Quebec’s desired yearly intake.

Quebec needs immigrants and it is perfectly legitimate for the government to make efforts to attract the maximum number of French-speakers. But, ideally, it needs to explain the challenges associated with doing so rather than sounding the alarm for political ends.

Jack Jedwab is president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute.

Source: Immigration versus the protection of French in Quebec

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Trudeau can’t keep juicing the economy with more spending

2023/05/31 Leave a comment

Some interesting nuggets in this op-ed by Argitis and Asselin, suggesting that some of their “cheerleading” of increased immigration may be undergoing a rethink. Needed greater emphasis on productivity and per capita GDP is an implicit admission that their support for the government’s permanent and temporary immigration has run counter to increased productivity.

And their suggestion for a slowdown in immigration, albeit not for economic class, to give housing a chance to “catch up” again is an implicit admission that their focus on levels (“more”) neglected the very real impacts on housing (in addition to healthcare and infrastructure).

Further (needed) cracks in the overall consensus?

The unexpected pick up in Canadian inflation last month — even if it turns out to be a blip — is a fresh reminder that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is facing a more perilous economic policy landscape going forward, with difficult trade-offs on the horizon.

The natural economic instinct of this government has been generous budget spending and open international migration.

Yet, Trudeau doesn’t need to look much further than Statistics Canada’s inflation numbers or last week’s call from the G7 for global “de-risking” to see how things are changing.

With the world entering a period of scarcity — from more expensive money to supply constraints — the rationale to juice the nation’s economy is weakening.

The housing crisis is a manifestation of that, as are broader price pressures and the Bank of Canada’s historically aggressive run of interest rate hikes.

Trudeau came to power in 2015 on an anti-austerity platform to reverse his Conservative predecessor’s sluggish growth record which, as the Liberals were quick to remind Canadians at the time, was the weakest since R.B. Bennett was prime minister in the 1930s.

The economics were sound at the time, even if the growth dividend didn’t pay off.

Canada’s economy was demand deficient early in Trudeau’s mandate as commodity prices slumped, while the extra spending helped ease financial stability risks by taking some pressure off the Bank of Canada to stoke growth.

Higher international migration drove gains in labour income and provided support to a housing market that was still largely within reach of affordability. Inflation wasn’t a worry. In fact, the concern for policymakers was it may not have been high enough.

New social programs, meanwhile, allowed the government to make significant strides on equality and redistribution — particularly with respect to lowering poverty.

The Trudeau administration’s weighty policy objectives were synergetic to the economic environment. Policies were rowing more or less in the same direction.

The current post-pandemic environment, though, is no longer as accommodating.

While many policymakers and economists still buy into a moderately optimistic outlook, with continued growth and inflation brought into check, less favourable outcomes are increasingly plausible.

There is a real possibility that inflation and interest rates will remain well above pre-pandemic levels, growth becomes more anemic, budget dynamics worsen and the climate transition proves costly.

Instead of working in concert, the government’s three core economic policy objectives — growth, equity and price stability — could become increasingly in conflict.

For example, increasing immigration is a long-term positive for an economy threatened by aging demographics. And more social spending is typically associated with less inequality.

But higher borrowing costs stoked by large increases in population and government spending will impact disproportionately lower income Canadians and young families, potentially creating divisions and threatening new sorts of inequality.

Add energy transition to the mix and national security issues and the landscape becomes a minefield.

The policy arena will be more ambiguous and the government pulled in multiple directions. Policy paralysis, wasted effort and poor allocation of resources are real risks.

There are certain fundamentals and policy guardrails, however, that can help the government navigate this challenge.

First, policymakers should prioritize growing GDP on a per capita basis and increasing productivity over expanding the overall aggregate economy. Both are important, but the former is where true prosperity lies and where Canada is failing. Masking underlying weakness with gains in national income is just a recipe for stagnant wages. Enhanced productivity also helps dampen inflationary pressures.

Second, toolkits and policy precision matter.

For example, supply side solutions are critical to productivity, but policymakers also need to be cognizant of short-term impacts in an inflationary world. Focusing more on economic migration and temporarily slowing the pace of new entrants to allow housing supply to catch up appears a reasonable solution to the current housing crisis.

Another example is industrial policy, which needs to become more sophisticated. Advanced economies will compete in advanced industries, where there is a concentration of R&D and skilled workers. Quick fixes through corporate subsidies, however, are not the answer. Canada needs a modern science and technology architecture that translates ideas into economic outputs, higher wages and better living standards.

The third guardrail is the most Canadian: be reasonable and pragmatic.

This seems obvious but we should not take this principle for granted, particularly as we rush (rightly) to meet ambitious climate targets. Canada remains a resource economy. The sector pays a lot of bills, keeps our currency stable and government finances flush with cash.

It’s also where any global power we may have as a nation lies. That makes an orderly climate transition paramount.

Theo Argitis is managing director at Compass Rose Group. Robert Asselin is senior vice-president, policy at the Business Council of Canada.

Source: Trudeau can’t keep juicing the economy with more spending

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Canada on track for 100 million immigrants but public support can’t be taken for granted: Century Initiative CEO 

2023/05/31 Leave a comment

While not walking back from their fundamental arguments, still a recognition of the reality of the government’s and CI’s approach and advocacy, as is their focus on “growing well” not just growth:

The chief executive of the Century Initiative says Canada “has reached the point of no return” when it comes to welcoming more immigrants, as its modelling shows Canada is on track to more than double its population to at least 100 million by the turn of the century.

But Lisa Lalande warned that existing high levels of public support for increasing immigration cannot be taken for granted.

“If public opinion shifts on immigration, policy will shift, and ultimately that will be detrimental to the future of the country,” she said in an interview.

The Century Initiative, a non-profit lobby group, wants to see Canada’s population grow from 39.5 million to 100 million by 2100. Ms. Lalande says more investment is needed to address problems such as housing shortages, so Canada “grows well” and can accommodate more people.

Current high levels of immigration and government policy decisions – such as making it easier for foreign students to get permanent residence – are putting Canada on track for the first time to meet or even surpass its target, the Century Initiative’s modelling has found.

Canada had record population growth of 703,404 people in 2021-2022, with immigration accounting for 94 per cent.

Ms. Lalande said the Century Initiative was not just in favour of a numerical target. Its research examines housing, investment in infrastructure, and climate adaptation, and it is focused on “making sure we are making investments that accommodate the population growth.”

The Century Initiative, which was co-founded by former Liberal government adviser, Dominic Barton, became the target of sharp criticism in Quebec this month, with Premier François Legault saying its plan for 100 million Canadians was a threat to Quebec.

The backlash in the province followed the announcement of a federal plan for 500,000 more newcomers to Canada in 2025, with some claiming it was part of a government bid to implement the lobby group’s 100 million target.

Referring to the controversy, Ms. Lalande said that its polling shows support for immigration is growing in Quebec, along with the rest of the country.

A poll last fall showed that 69 per cent of Canadians disagreed that there was too much immigration, while just over one in four agreed. Quebeckers as a whole were no less supportive of immigration than Canadians elsewhere in the country.

The Environics Institute survey was based on telephone interviews with 2,000 Canadians conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 30, 2022, with an accuracy within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points in 19 out of 20 samples.

Those who felt there is too much immigration thought it posed a threat to Canadian or Quebec culture, will drain the economy and welfare system, or take jobs away from other Canadians.

The Century Initiative’s third annual “score card,” looking at how Canada is doing in achieving growth and prosperity, said this month that “these types of perceptions highlight the importance of continuing to build the public case for the benefits of immigration” and expanding the housing supply as well as improving infrastructure such as roads and public services.

“While there was strong support for immigration among Canadians in 2022, this situation is critical to monitor and could evolve alongside economic and societal pressures,” it stressed.

Ms. Lalande said Canada’s immigration program is admired by other countries, and “we actually do a good job in integration.”

However, people in smaller communities may be feeling “demographic shifts in a more pronounced way” than other parts of Canada.

She says Canada has “reached the point of no return” when it comes to increasing the population, and immigration is a way to plug job shortages, including in health care and retail.

“We are too late to say let’s put a pause on growth so that we can address all these issues,” she said. “Our demographic realities are such that we are already feeling closures of hospital emergency rooms. There’s some pretty serious issues. And immigration is one way to address them.”

Among the obstacles is getting foreign credentials recognized more swiftly so skilled immigrants, including doctors, can practise in Canada. Strides have been made recently, including making it easier for engineers to work in Ontario.

The scorecard found Canadians’ fertility rate remained low and the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a drop in life expectancy. It also found housing costs have escalated, while investment in infrastructure has declined.

“Without planned and strategic investments in infrastructure, population growth will put a strain on Canada’s economy, quality of life and well-being,” it said.

But Ms. Lalande says it’s wrong to blame the growing number of immigrants for the shortage of affordable housing and the rising cost of living, claims which have crept into the public narrative in recent weeks during the debate on immigration in Quebec.

“It’s easier to scapegoat, point the finger at immigration when there are much more complex issues, “she says. “You need to have that big picture.”

“Even if we pulled back nationally on immigration, we’d still have significant housing shortages.”

Even so, existing support for more immigration in Canada is not “something that we can rely on.”

“We can’t take that for granted,” she said. “It’s a Canadian advantage and we must seize on that advantage.”

Source: Canada on track for 100 million immigrants but public support can’t be taken for granted: Century Initiative CEO

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Ottawa is doing little to eliminate discrimination against French-speaking African students: More data and less rhetoric please

2023/05/31 Leave a comment

Unfortunately, we do not have enough transparency and data to assess whether this discrimination is evidence-based or not. And of course these arguments do not question the fundamental value and, in some cases, lack thereof, of the ongoing increases in international students and two-step immigration:

The fact that Immigration Canada discriminates against Black students from French-speaking Africa is something researchers and observers of Québec and Canadian politics have been documenting and denouncing for years. 

Once again this month, we learned from a study by the Institut du Québec (IDQ) that the federal government is refusing half of the applications for study permits to foreign students who were selected by Québec and accepted by a Québec university. This figure increases to 72 per cent for African students.

Denunciation of this discrimination, and of the federal government’s inaction on it, goes far beyond the circle of immigration experts. Leaders of French-language higher education institutions, political actors and civil society are now speaking out as well. 

As researchers in the fields of political sociology and the sociological and ethnological study of nationalisms and interethnic relations, we are interested in social transformations in Québec and Canada, as well as social representations of immigration. 

On a global scale, this discrimination sends a very bad message to Canada’s partners in the Organisation internationale de la francophonie. At the Canadian level, it has an impact on the vitality of institutions in francophone communities outside Québec. 

At the Québec level, it has an impact on the vitality of programs in regional colleges and universities. At the Montréal level, it also has an impact on the vitality of French language higher education institutions and, in particular, on the capacity of the Université du Québec to fulfill its social mission. 

Québec has done its homework

This situation was well known when the Liberal Party of Canada became a minority government in 2019. It was also known when the same government won again in 2021, still as a minority government. The data just published by the IDQ are indisputable: the situation continued in 2022. 

Although there have been modest improvements in some places, this has not reversed a stubborn and persistent underlying trend. The data show that despite warnings, denunciations and investigations by many journalists, Immigration Canada is still dragging its feet. 

The Québec government has not always been immune to criticism in this area. The immigration reform piloted in 2020 by Simon Jolin-Barrette drew criticism for a variety of reasons. One of these was a change to the Québec Experience Program that slowed, if not hindered access to citizenship for foreign students studying in Québec. 

Québec’s new immigration minister, Christine Fréchette, has been much more far-sighted, informed and pragmatic. Her promise to reorient the Québec government’s immigration policy is in tune with the higher education community. These circles have long recognized the importance of offering a fast track to citizenship for students who have gotten work experience through their studies, internships and the networks they developed in Québec. 

Immigration Canada’s inaction is incomprehensible

This shift by Québec’s Minister of Immigration, Francization and Integration is in line with the informed opinions of Quebec’s higher education institutions. It also brings hope to Montréal’s French-language higher education community, which has been complaining for several years that it is not competing on a level playing field with English-language institutions of higher learning. 

The latter operate in a completely different market than French-language universities. Since the removal of the ceiling on fees for foreign students, English-language higher education institutions have been earning significantly more revenue than French-language institutions. Many actors in the education sector have denounced how this systemic inequality reduces the attractiveness of French-language institutions, and in particular, the ability of the Université du Québec network to fulfill its mission of academic and social integration. 

Faced with this major change in direction by the Québec government, the inaction of Immigration Canada is all the more incomprehensible. 

After Sean Fraser blamed his department’s discriminatory practices on algorithmic errors, subcontracted the work of its officials to the McKinsey firm, acknowledged a problem of systemic discrimination within its own organization and promised to address this problem, the 2022 figures from his department show the same misfires and the same discriminatory practices as in previous years. 

In an embarrassing moment, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister was asked to defend his record. The slight increase in acceptances that she mentioned does not meet the legitimate expectations of students whose applications have been accepted by a Québec institution. 

Minister Fraser no longer has the legitimacy required

Ottawa must draw conclusions from this new data. If the Trudeau government were not championing the fight against systemic racism in every forum, it might be possible to overlook this lack of credibility on the part of its minister. But at this point, federal Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Fraser no longer has the legitimacy to retain this file.

The failure of the Liberal Party to act on such an important issue for Québec and Canada’s francophone communities is regrettable. It casts a shadow over the important success of the update of the Official Languages Act, the passage of which was rightly celebrated by both federal and Québec governments. 

If we want to celebrate the new version of the Official Languages Act, we must be consistent and provide access to French-language higher education institutions to all students who want to contribute to the vibrancy of Canada’s francophone communities. 

We should be pleased that the Québec government got this message. It is more than regrettable that it is taking so long for Ottawa to understand it.

Source: Ottawa is doing little to eliminate discrimination against French-speaking African students

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ICYMI ‘Game changer’: Ontario engineers remove Canadian work experience requirement for immigrants

2023/05/30 Leave a comment

Significant:

Internationally trained engineers will no longer be required to have Canadian experience to be licensed in Ontario, as the province adopts a new law that’s meant to remove the barriers keeping skilled immigrants from working in their former professions.

On Tuesday, Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO), which represents the fourth largest regulated profession in the province with 85,649 members, becomes the first professional regulatory body to remove the requirement from their application criteria.

“By no longer requiring proof of Canadian experience when applying for an engineering licence, PEO will effectively ensure that qualified international applicants are licensed fairly and without undue delay so they can actively work as engineers,” said Jennifer Quaglietta, the regulator’s CEO registrar.

“Our new application process for professional engineering licences is efficient, transparent and fair, and will provide most applicants with a registration decision within six months of submitting a completed application.”

The lack of Canadian work experience has been cited as a key barrier to earning professional designations in Canada by skilled immigrants in returning to their fields of training. In 2021, amid a labour shortage during the pandemic, the Ontario government introduced new regulations to force some professional regulators to drop Canadian work-experience requirements from their licensing criteria — and to speed up processing times.

“This is, quite frankly, a game-changer for newcomers coming here, but also for businesses who are struggling with a huge labour shortage,” said Labour Minister Monte McNaughton, whose ministry also oversees training, skills development and immigration.

“Only a quarter of internationally trained immigrants in our province are working in the professions they studied for. This is an injustice to these workers, and it doesn’t take a math major to figure out the current numbers don’t add up.” He said roughly 300,000 jobs continue to go unfilled across the province every day, including thousands in engineering and it costs billions in lost productivity.

The amended Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act covers 36 non-health-related professions and trades, ranging from architecture to teaching, social work, plumbing, electricians’ work, autobody repair and hairstyling.

McNaughton said the regulatory bodies have until Dec. 2 to remove the Canadian work experience requirement, unless an exemption is granted for public health and safety reasons. Regulators will be fined up to $100,000 for non-compliance.

“We’re not going to have any regulatory body stand in our way. We want to help lift immigrants up so they can earn more money for themselves and their families and also fill labour shortages and grow our economy,” he told the Star in an interview. “There’s going to be a zero tolerance.”

Despite the removal of the Canadian experience requirement, licensing applicants to the engineering profession are still subject to a rigorous process that covers their knowledge and competencies in technical communication, project management and professional accountability. Candidates are still required to have 48-months of professional experience in engineering and pass a national professional practice exam that includes ethics, professional practice, engineering, law and professional liability.

“This multi-faceted process will continue to ensure that all professional engineers meet rigorous qualifications for licences and that only properly qualified individuals practise engineering,” said Quaglietta, adding that up to 60 per cent of the engineering licence applications each year are from internationally trained engineers.

Source: ‘Game changer’: Ontario engineers remove Canadian work experience requirement for immigrants

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ICYMI: British voters want more immigrants but less immigration

2023/05/30 Leave a comment

From the Economist (many countries and issues have similar contradictions):

The biggest lie in British politics is that voters want honest debate. Whenever a policy problem emerges, sensible types call for the trade-offs to be laid out before an informed voting public who will carefully weigh the options. Anyone who has sat through a focus group or gone canvassing with a politician knows this is nonsense. When faced with an either/or question, British voters usually give a decisive answer: “yes”. Listen to this story.

Nowhere is this more true than immigration. A majority of voters think migration is too high, according to most polls. Almost nine out of ten Conservative voters think this; a plurality of Labour voters agree. At the same time, British voters say they want more nurses, doctors and fruit-pickers. Carers, academics, computer whizzes and students are welcome, too. Big-hearted Britons thought the country was completely right to let swathes of refugees from Ukraine and Hong Kong into the country. Britons may not much like immigration, but they are keen on immigrants. 

If so, then the Tories have come up with an impeccably botched policy response. A Conservative government that has pledged to cut immigration at the past four elections has instead overseen an increase to a record level. Net migration hit 606,000 in Britain last year, according to figures published on May 25th, as people took advantage of a more liberal post-Brexit immigration regime. The British government has thrown open the country’s doors while complaining about the people who walk through them. It is utterly incoherent. But when it comes to immigration, so are voters. 

Public opinion on immigration was not always so confused. Attitudes used to move in lockstep with numbers. In the 1940s and 1950s Britain accepted workers from across the Commonwealth, who could enter the country as they pleased. By the 1960s eight out of ten people wanted lower immigration; hard-nosed and rather racist legislation followed. Likewise, when immigration increased during the 1990s and 2000s, so did concern. This trend reached its apex in 2016, when, with just a month to go until the Brexit referendum, the government announced a then-record net influx of 330,000 people. Britain voted to leave the eu, with immigration cited as one of the main reasons. 

This tidy relationship has broken down. Immigration has increased sharply since the Brexit vote but concern about it has, if anything, gone down in the past decade. In 2012 a quarter of voters thought immigrants boosted Britain’s economy; half thought immigrants harmed it, according to British Future, a think-tank. Now those proportions have reversed. The number of people who cite immigration as the number-one problem facing the country has plunged, while issues such as lousy health care and high inflation top the worry-list. 

Attacking immigration was once an easy win for politicians. In 2015 almost 70% of voters wanted immigration reduced. Now, only 42% do. At the same time, a hard-core minority of people now want migration to increase. In 2015 only one in ten wanted this. Now about a quarter do. James Dennison and Alexander Kustov, a pair of academics, label this phenomenon a “reverse backlash”. Politicians have tried to placate voters tempted by anti-immigrant populist parties and ignored others in the process. Once-silent liberal voters have started demanding to be heard. (Intriguingly, about half of people think the British public has become less tolerant overall, even though most polling points to the opposite; when discussing immigration, Britons think in irregular verbs: “I am tolerant; you are prejudiced; he is a complete bigot.”)

Conservatives are split on how to deal with this change. For some, the increasingly liberal views of British voters when it comes to immigration should be seized on. Dominic Cummings, the architect of the Vote Leave campaign in 2016, argued that voters would be happy with high levels of immigration as long as it was controlled. Judging by the positive shift in attitudes on immigrants, he was right. If the government can stop people crossing the English Channel in small boats (some 45,000 arrived last year in this manner) voters will not care about the larger numbers of migrants arriving through official channels. There are few benefits of Brexit. But Britain’s immigration policy could be one. 

For other Conservative advisers—including those currently in Downing Street—immigration simply must come down if the government is to have any chance of surviving. In their view, the liberal turn is a mirage. When voters eventually notice that immigration has, in fact, hit an all-time high they will be furious. People have mistaken a drop in salience with an increase in liberalism. This hypothesis is about to be tested in real life: if voters want control rather than reductions, what if more than half a million arrive every year? Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, thinks he knows the answer to that question, and has pledged to reduce the numbers. 

Welcome. Now get out

Taking numbers down a little is easy. Unless another war breaks out in Europe, there will be fewer refugees next year. Bringing them down a lot is harder. If the British government wants fewer people to come, it can change the law and suffer the consequences. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has already tightened rules on the number of international students who can bring dependents, even though voters are broadly comfortable with people coming to Britain to study and universities rely on their fees. The government could crack down on fruit-pickers, but farmers in Lincolnshire would scream. Few voters would thank a government that turns away nurses. Cutting immigration comes at a cost that voters show no willingness to pay. 

Rolling out the welcome mat and then shouting at anyone who wipes their feet on it may be an imperfect approach. But from the government’s point of view, it will have to do. Voters do not want to live with the consequences of their opinions. When voters are hypocrites, politicians must be too. 

Source: British voters want more immigrants but less immigration

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