This is an extract from Jason Kenney’s interview with Macleans magazine. I thought these two questions would be of interest to those who are waiting to get into Canada. His comments on numbers of immigrants and their ability to get work and be productive in Canada are heartening.
I would add that there is a long way to go before Canadian employers are truly open to taking on foreign workers. As immigrants we have to convince employers of what we bring to them, but it would be nice if they could meet us halfway.
The rest of the interview is worth reading too, but here is my selective extract for you.
Q: We want our immigrant populations to be as well-educated and productive as possible, but isn’t the greater need simply for more immigrants?
A: It’s both. Last year we welcomed to Canada 247,000 permanent residents and over half a million permanent and temporary residents. We are the only developed country I know of which is actually maintaining rather than cutting immigration levels. I agree with the premise that the point system created a profile of immigration intake which wasn’t necessarily linked to our economic and labour market needs, and we end up with the best-educated taxi drivers in the world; we end up with highly educated professionals coming from the top tiers of their countries of origin ending up working survival jobs here in Canada as they can’t get their credentials recognized. So we’re making changes to more closely align our immigration program to our economic and labour market needs.
Q: Why not take advantage of this opportunity when other nations are closing doors? We have a long-term need for high immigration.
A: We are doing exactly that. We are finally, again, competitive for the best and the brightest with countries like Australia and New Zealand. If you were a brilliant software engineer from Bangalore who just graduated from one of the top Indian technology institutes, you wouldn’t even think about coming to Canada and waiting six years to do so; you would go to Australia or New Zealand in six months. We are making changes to better align the immigration intake with our economic and labour market needs, and that will in time—significantly, I think—improve economic outcomes. Which, at the end of day—all this abstract talk about social inclusion and integration—when I meet with new Canadians, they don’t get into abstract debates about pluralism and managing diversity. They’re here because they want a good job in the profession for which they are trained and they want their kids to get ahead.