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Justin Trudeau this week moved to quell a public backlash to one of many world’s most progressive migration insurance policies by rolling again Canada’s overseas employee scheme.
Trailing in polls forward of an election subsequent yr, the prime minister introduced measures to slash the variety of new arrivals. However executives fear the measures will curb their provide of low cost labour.
Simranzeet Singh, supervisor of coverage on the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, mentioned that extra session was wanted to make sure “changes do not inadvertently harm our economy or critical services”.
Trudeau instructed reporters on Monday that the federal government was “looking at the various (migration) streams to make sure that, as we move forward, Canada remains a place that is positive in its support for immigration but also responsible in the way we integrate and make pathways for success”.
The transfer marked an abrupt change for Trudeau, who has championed Canada’s openness to migrants and welcomed refugees from war-ravaged nations together with Syria and Ukraine. In 2015, he greeted Syrian refugees at Toronto airport by handing them winter jackets and declaring: “You are home.”
The overseas staff programme is credited with serving to Canada get better from the pandemic however has been more and more blamed for the excessive price of housing, stress on the healthcare system and rising youth unemployment.
Conservative social gathering chief Pierre Poilievre has made Canada’s skyrocketing price of dwelling and sluggish economic system a central ingredient of his election marketing campaign.
On Thursday Poilievre claimed Trudeau’s authorities had “destroyed our immigration system”.
“We have to have a smaller population growth,” he mentioned.
Canada follows the UK and Germany in cracking down on immigration within the face of public disquiet about an inflow of foreigners. Immigration has additionally change into central to this yr’s US election, with Democratic candidate Kamala Harris beneath fireplace for a rise within the variety of migrants crossing the southern border from Mexico through the Biden administration.
Canada has welcomed 1.63mn new residents since January 2018 with almost one-third coming from India, the Philippines or China, in accordance with official knowledge.
In 2021, greater than 8.3mn folks, or virtually one-quarter of Canada’s inhabitants, had been migrants, in accordance with official knowledge. By comparability, in 2022 about 14 per cent of the UK’s virtually 70mn folks had been born abroad, in accordance to Oxford college’s migration statement centre.
David Coletto, chief government of Ottawa-based polling agency Abacus Knowledge, mentioned that migration was one purpose for the opposition Conservatives’ 17 level polling lead over Trudeau’s Liberals.
“Our data shows only one in four think the country is going in the right direction,” he mentioned.
Canada’s inhabitants hit 40mn final yr after rising by greater than 1mn in a yr. Short-term and everlasting migration accounted for 96 per cent of this inhabitants progress.
In November, two-thirds of Canadians surveyed mentioned immigration was “too high” and 31 per cent mentioned “way too high”, Coletto mentioned. A Metropolis Institute and the Affiliation for Canadian Research ballot in March 2024 discovered “one in two Canadians” mentioned there have been too many immigrants.
Trudeau’s new measures would slash from 20 per cent to 10 per cent the share of low-wage momentary overseas staff that Canadian employers can rent — reversing a 2022 coverage that has elevated the nation’s inventory of momentary overseas staff to just about 3mn folks. Trudeau has hinted at broader immigration reform within the autumn.
In January, Ottawa additionally capped the variety of worldwide college students for the yr at 360,000. Immigration minister Marc Miller mentioned on the time that the availability of overseas college students had “become so lucrative that it opened a path for its abuse” by profiteering schooling establishments and would-be college students.
Michael Bonner, a ministerial adviser within the earlier Conservative authorities, mentioned firms use the overseas employee schemes as a central a part of their enterprise mannequin to maintain wages and costs low.
“This is bad enough, but it also prices Canadians out of the labour market,” he mentioned.
The brand new measures embrace an exemption for agricultural producers, notably these in distant areas the place it’s tough to fulfill labour wants regionally.
Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Unbiased Business, the nation’s largest companies affiliation, mentioned labour shortages “will only get worse in agriculture, caregiving and skilled trades, as well as in rural areas”.
He known as the criticism of overseas staff “unfounded political attacks”, including that “94 per cent of employers” who depend on the programme had been compliant with safety measures.
The Canadian authorities has additionally come beneath stress to stem the stream of overseas staff throughout the border with the US, which has strained relations between the governments.
“US lawmakers are calling to harden the northern border with Canada because of the fears of illegal migration from Canada. So, stemming the flow of these visas will bolster US relations,” mentioned Glenn Cowan, founder and chief government of One9, a enterprise capital firm centered on safety.
