According to a news article presented by CBC News on January 2, 2020, the federal government has plans to create a new program to allow communities to allow and select immigrants to fill in labour gaps. This new municipal nominee program cities and towns in Canada to measure their local labour needs and choose newcomers to fill in where there is a shortage of workers. This program was promised by the Liberal government during their election campaign. Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino has been instructed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to work on the project.
According to Mendicino’s mandate letter, at least 5,000 new spaces will be created by the program, as newcomers are matched with labour needs.
According to CBC, Mendicino says this is a new pathway to permanent residency and a new innovation in Canada’s immigration program. It will allow the system to “draw on local experiences, expertise, capacities to understand where there are labour shortages, where are the economic opportunities and how that information can help us select individuals who wish to come to Canada to ply their trade, to fulfil their opportunity.”
According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), over the last decade 75% of Canada’s population growth has come from immigration. Immigration is expected to account for 80% of Canadas’s population growth by 2031.
Director of workforce strategies and inclusive growth for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Leah Nord, has stated that labour gaps continue across Canada, with close to half a million jobs unfulfilled in many sectors.