Canada risks losing its competitive edge because of immigration reforms brought in under the previous Conservative government for political expediency, says a new report by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
In a phone interview with CBC News, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the chamber, said "It was a political response to a political problem, but with significant economic consequences for Canadian businesses."
Express Entry was launched in 2015 to attract what the Conservative government called "the best and brightest" highly-skilled workers from around the world in an effort to meet the country's labour needs. But employers looking for software engineers, family physicians or university academics got lumped in the same category as workers with less specialized skills.
"In an atmosphere of hyper-political reaction over temporary foreign workers, the government made policy choices that ultimately sacrificed the effectiveness of Express Entry," the report says of changes brought in by the business-friendly Conservatives.
In a phone interview with CBC News, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the chamber, said "It was a political response to a political problem, but with significant economic consequences for Canadian businesses."
Canada appears to have attracted "fewer" high skilled foreign workers since June 2014 when the Conservatives announced the last set of reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, raising serious concerns for the chamber, which represents some 200,000 businesses across the country.
"For the Canadian chamber and its members who employ highly skilled international talent, the situation has become untenable and dismaying," the report says.
"Policy approaches that were born of suspicion, negativity and reprisal were applied to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and then similarly and inappropriately applied to Express Entry.
"For all the good work of government officials, the programs are falling short of their goals and creating inefficiencies within departments," the report said.
Express Entry undermined by 'protectionist policy'
"The concept of attracting 'the best and the brightest' is missing in action," says the new report, "as the competitive model of Express Entry is currently undermined by the protectionist policy embodied in the labour market impact assessment tool."
As CBC reported in September, businesses say the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) — a new requirement borrowed from the newly reformed Temporary Foreign Worker Program — is the biggest flaw with Express Entry.
Under Canada's new immigration system, highly-skilled foreign workers not only have to line up a job before applying to come to Canada but their job offer has to be backed by what the government calls a positive LMIA. That assessment is a document all employers now need to hire a foreign worker over a Canadian one.
The chamber calls the introduction of this new requirement a "misstep" that has made it "extremely challenging" for businesses to attract highly-skilled workers such as video game developers, top-flight researchers and workers in the trades.
"As a result, Canada appears to have invited far fewer highly skilled workers to work here on a temporary basis," the chamber said pointing to a 45 per cent drop in LMIA's, which are required for work permits in the year, since June 2014 when the temporary worker reforms were brought in.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/temporary-foreign-worker-reforms-immigration-chamber-report-1.3403375
In a phone interview with CBC News, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the chamber, said "It was a political response to a political problem, but with significant economic consequences for Canadian businesses."
Express Entry was launched in 2015 to attract what the Conservative government called "the best and brightest" highly-skilled workers from around the world in an effort to meet the country's labour needs. But employers looking for software engineers, family physicians or university academics got lumped in the same category as workers with less specialized skills.
"In an atmosphere of hyper-political reaction over temporary foreign workers, the government made policy choices that ultimately sacrificed the effectiveness of Express Entry," the report says of changes brought in by the business-friendly Conservatives.
In a phone interview with CBC News, Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the chamber, said "It was a political response to a political problem, but with significant economic consequences for Canadian businesses."
Canada appears to have attracted "fewer" high skilled foreign workers since June 2014 when the Conservatives announced the last set of reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, raising serious concerns for the chamber, which represents some 200,000 businesses across the country.
"For the Canadian chamber and its members who employ highly skilled international talent, the situation has become untenable and dismaying," the report says.
"Policy approaches that were born of suspicion, negativity and reprisal were applied to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and then similarly and inappropriately applied to Express Entry.
"For all the good work of government officials, the programs are falling short of their goals and creating inefficiencies within departments," the report said.
Express Entry undermined by 'protectionist policy'
"The concept of attracting 'the best and the brightest' is missing in action," says the new report, "as the competitive model of Express Entry is currently undermined by the protectionist policy embodied in the labour market impact assessment tool."
As CBC reported in September, businesses say the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) — a new requirement borrowed from the newly reformed Temporary Foreign Worker Program — is the biggest flaw with Express Entry.
Under Canada's new immigration system, highly-skilled foreign workers not only have to line up a job before applying to come to Canada but their job offer has to be backed by what the government calls a positive LMIA. That assessment is a document all employers now need to hire a foreign worker over a Canadian one.
The chamber calls the introduction of this new requirement a "misstep" that has made it "extremely challenging" for businesses to attract highly-skilled workers such as video game developers, top-flight researchers and workers in the trades.
"As a result, Canada appears to have invited far fewer highly skilled workers to work here on a temporary basis," the chamber said pointing to a 45 per cent drop in LMIA's, which are required for work permits in the year, since June 2014 when the temporary worker reforms were brought in.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/temporary-foreign-worker-reforms-immigration-chamber-report-1.3403375
