The Sherwood Park and District Chamber of Commerce's March 16 luncheon saw an outsider's point of view, with Jason Kenney, minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism stepping up as this month's guest speaker.
Among other topics, Kenney spoke to the continued economic challenges and how immigration can help pull the country's financial state out from its downturn.
Kenney said one particular challenge northern Alberta in particular will face, given the provincial rate of growth, is that of labour-market shortages.
"As the minister of immigration, I believe there is a critical role to be played in matching immigration to Canada with the current and future labour-market shortages," he said. "I know, because I meet business folks from Alberta all the time, that many of you are likely struggling to fill orders and to run your businesses because of a shortage of labour."
Kenney retold the story of a Pakistani immigrant to Canada he recently spoke with in Calgary who faced this problem.
"He worked hard, saved up and started a small business," he said. "He and his wife own two Subway franchises, and he broke down in tears in my office telling me how it was almost impossible to keep their business going, because they couldn't hire people to come and work in their stores. The husband and wife were committed to running those stores 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Their marriage was suffering because of it, and they just didn't know if they could make a go of it."
Kenney's solution to the problem: immigration.
"When we went into the recession, some of the other political parties, and some people in the media, including our friends at the Edmonton Journal, said that we should shut down temporary foreign-worker programs," he said.
However, Kenney said the program's existence keeps thousands of businesses from closing their doors.
"I said the worst thing we could do going into an economic downturn would be to strangle and kill those businesses that are alive and growing because of the labour-market shortage," he said. "We have facilitated, on a demand basis, responsible expansion of the temporary foreign-worker program so that we can continue to grow the economy."
Kenney added that reforms to the country's immigration policy have been made for a better alignment between people who arrive in Canada and the jobs that are not filled.
"It used to be that 90 per cent of immigrants were all going and settling in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver," he said. "Now nearly 30 per cent are settling in the prairie provinces particularly, as well as Atlantic Canada."
According to Kenney, since 2005, the number of permanent-resident immigrants has risen from 19,000 to 33,000 between 2005 and 2010.
In that same five-year time line, he said the number of economic immigrants has doubled from 11,000 to 22,000.
"Those are hard-working people who are helping to fuel our growth," Kenney said. "There's a lot we're trying to do to make sure they get and keep good jobs. Those that are coming into licensed professions can get their credentials recognized in a reasonable period of time and we're also investing in other ways to ensure their success."
He added the country's biggest long-term challenge will be filling jobs for the future.
"I'm certainly looking to be a partner with the Sherwood Park chamber and with all of you as individual businesses in making sure we can make that happen so that we can harness immigration for Canada's advantage for future prosperity," Kenney said.
The next chamber of commerce luncheon will take place at Festival Place on April 20 as Strathcona County mayor Linda Osinchuk presents the state of the county report.
Among other topics, Kenney spoke to the continued economic challenges and how immigration can help pull the country's financial state out from its downturn.
Kenney said one particular challenge northern Alberta in particular will face, given the provincial rate of growth, is that of labour-market shortages.
"As the minister of immigration, I believe there is a critical role to be played in matching immigration to Canada with the current and future labour-market shortages," he said. "I know, because I meet business folks from Alberta all the time, that many of you are likely struggling to fill orders and to run your businesses because of a shortage of labour."
Kenney retold the story of a Pakistani immigrant to Canada he recently spoke with in Calgary who faced this problem.
"He worked hard, saved up and started a small business," he said. "He and his wife own two Subway franchises, and he broke down in tears in my office telling me how it was almost impossible to keep their business going, because they couldn't hire people to come and work in their stores. The husband and wife were committed to running those stores 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Their marriage was suffering because of it, and they just didn't know if they could make a go of it."
Kenney's solution to the problem: immigration.
"When we went into the recession, some of the other political parties, and some people in the media, including our friends at the Edmonton Journal, said that we should shut down temporary foreign-worker programs," he said.
However, Kenney said the program's existence keeps thousands of businesses from closing their doors.
"I said the worst thing we could do going into an economic downturn would be to strangle and kill those businesses that are alive and growing because of the labour-market shortage," he said. "We have facilitated, on a demand basis, responsible expansion of the temporary foreign-worker program so that we can continue to grow the economy."
Kenney added that reforms to the country's immigration policy have been made for a better alignment between people who arrive in Canada and the jobs that are not filled.
"It used to be that 90 per cent of immigrants were all going and settling in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver," he said. "Now nearly 30 per cent are settling in the prairie provinces particularly, as well as Atlantic Canada."
According to Kenney, since 2005, the number of permanent-resident immigrants has risen from 19,000 to 33,000 between 2005 and 2010.
In that same five-year time line, he said the number of economic immigrants has doubled from 11,000 to 22,000.
"Those are hard-working people who are helping to fuel our growth," Kenney said. "There's a lot we're trying to do to make sure they get and keep good jobs. Those that are coming into licensed professions can get their credentials recognized in a reasonable period of time and we're also investing in other ways to ensure their success."
He added the country's biggest long-term challenge will be filling jobs for the future.
"I'm certainly looking to be a partner with the Sherwood Park chamber and with all of you as individual businesses in making sure we can make that happen so that we can harness immigration for Canada's advantage for future prosperity," Kenney said.
The next chamber of commerce luncheon will take place at Festival Place on April 20 as Strathcona County mayor Linda Osinchuk presents the state of the county report.