According to the Toronto Star, Ontario Premier Doug Ford intends to ask the federal government for more control over the migrant choice to help the state deal with historic labor shortages.
The immigration minister of Ontario said that hundreds of thousands of job requirements remain unfinished in Ontario, and it spending a lot of money on the economy. In order to attract more skilled, economic immigrants to Ontario, the province believes it should have greater control over its provincial immigration program, similar to the Quebec immigration system.
Also, McNaughton said that they are trying to negotiate again the Ontario-Canada immigration agreement, which will expire soon. To offer Ontario more control over the amount and type of immigrants we wish to bring here in order to strengthen our economy said.
According to McNaughton, the state has already applied to double its quota for the Ontario Immigration Nominee Program from 9,000 to 12,000, but that amount will only increase to 9,700.
The labor deficit in Ontario
Ontario, like the rest of Canada, is now facing a labor shortage. The need for additional labor is greater than ever with the national unemployment rate at a record-low 4.9 percent.
According to the most recent Statistics Canada figures, Ontario has 340,000 open positions and a 5.1 percent unemployment rate.
The Ontario Immigration Nominee Program
With the exception of Quebec and the Nunavut Territory (PNP), all provinces and territories have state nominee programs. The state can select applicants through these programs if they believe they are most suitable for the state. Applicants are more likely to obtain permanent residence if recommended by the state.
Under the Immigration Level Plan developed by IRCC, the state accepts to recommend a certain number of immigrants each year.
The objective of the plan is to fairly spread the advantages of immigration across Canada. This comprises immigrants from the economic and family classes as well as immigrants from the refugee and humanitarian classes.
An overview of immigration to Ontario
The province with the most residents in Canada, Ontario, also takes in the vast majority of newcomers each year.
Almost half of all people who migrated to Canada in 2021 decided to settle in Ontario. However, Ontario was the only state where the majority of migrants arrived under the family and refugee classification before the COVID-19 pandemic. The established Diaspora Group and some of Canada’s strongest settlement supporters are heavily involved in increasing family classes and refugee migrants.
Canada has 83,500 locations available for state nomination programs under the 2022 Immigration Level Plan. (This number includes major applicants and their spouses and dependents). According to the IRCC, Ontario, which has the highest PNP allocation, has been assigned 9,700 major applicant locations.
However, this is a small amount to work with, as Ontario has a population of about 15 million. The province does not believe that 9,700 is enough to ease the economic pressure brought on by the lack of able-bodied people, despite the fact that it represents a slightly higher increase than the 9,000 set for 2021.
To put it bluntly, according to McNaughton, this increase will not cause the meter to move. In Ontario, there are only one or two businesses that have fewer than 700 employees.
How does this affect the other part of Canada?
Other parts of Canada will be significantly affected by Ontario’s significantly higher PNP quota.
IRCC’s national mission includes support for immigration requirements in each state and territory.
On the one hand, the expansion of Ontario’s immigration power is within the scope of the IRCC. As Ontario faces a serious labor shortage, increased worker control over immigrants can fill post-pandemic employment and boost the state’s economic recovery.
Instead, the IRCC needs to consider whether expanding Ontario’s powers could impede initiatives to promote a more equal distribution of the migrant population across Canada.
The PNP’s principal objective is to assist smaller provinces and territories in luring more immigrants. Canada only ran a few federal and Quebec economic class programs prior to the PNP’s founding in 1998. In a major part, Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia benefited from these schemes.
PNP was proposed by IRCC as a treatment and has since proved to be very effective.
Given that Ontario already accepts more than half of all immigrants to Canada, a stronger state immigration office could lead to an even greater increase in the state’s national immigration share, which is another state. And it will hurt Ontario.
Therefore, IRCC has a difficult decision regarding Ontario’s request.
In the end, it might seem preferable to keep up Canada’s immigration levels and the PNP allocations of each province and territory looking to attract more immigrants, such as Ontario. Even though this wouldn’t be a perfect answer, it might enable the IRCC to continue to serve each jurisdiction’s needs while also preserving a wide distribution of immigration across Canada.
