Shallow Labour Pool

Federal and provincial governments are tackling the issues of the labour shortage and immigration in different ways.

We all know that Canada’s, particularly British Columbia’s and Alberta’s, labour markets are suffering from a major shortage these days. In August, two major announcements were made to address this problem — one from Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), the other from the British Columbia Provincial Nominee Program (B.C. PNP).

These two announcements reflect the current trend in Canadian immigration policy. The federal government is focusing on broader issues, while the provinces are doing more and more of the work to actually facilitate the entry of immigrants and workers that address real labour market shortages.

CIC announced the creation of the Temporary Foreign Worker Units (TFWU) in Vancouver and Calgary. According to CIC, the TWFUs will offer guidance to employers and human resources service providers in those two cities seeking to employ foreign workers who fall into a very limited category – that is, applicants who do not need a labour market opinion from Service Canada to support their work permit applications. This does not reflect a policy shift, but rather a re-allocation of resources. If the pilot project is successful, CIC will likely expand the program across much of Canada.

Essentially, employers and foreign workers will be able to vet applications to the TFWUs before they apply for a work permit. The TFWU will review the application and give the employer or foreign worker advice on the application. If the application is done properly, the TFWU will issue a letter to the employer or foreign worker that can then be used to apply for a work permit at an entry port into Canada. The TFWU will not issue work permits directly.

The impact from this project should be noticeable to some, but largely ineffective regarding our current provincial labour market shortages. The problem is that the TFWUs are generally designed to address intra-company transferees, whom are non-Canadian employees working in offices outside of Canada who are being transferred to their company’s offices inside of Canada (typically well-paid executives), the kind of jobs covered under trade agreements, like NAFTA, GATS and the Canada Chile Free Trade Agreement (engineers, geologists, dentists, lawyers, etc.) and those facilitated under other reciprocal arrangements. None of these agreements facilitate entry of construction workers, manufacturers or other labourers in sectors that our economy is truly in dire need.

The B.C. PNP’s announcement in August is a very positive sign of new things to come on the immigration scene. The B.C. PNP office has been given the green light to hire six new staff to deal with the ever-increasing volume of applications received by that office. Of the six new hires, four are anticipated to work on strategic occupation cases, while the other two are earmarked for business applicants. Three new staff will be hired almost immediately and the other three will join in the not-to-distant future.

The B.C. PNP has the flexibility and desire to help employers in the province hire those key employees that they need to make their businesses successful, contributing to B.C.’s bottom line. Construction workers, including various trades are typically welcomed.

The B.C. PNP is available to almost all employers facing difficulties finding qualified persons to take on good and typically decently paying jobs. Once nominated, a B.C. PNP applicant may apply for a work permit that will bridge the gap between nomination and landing as a permanent resident. Under this program, a foreign worker can typically start work within a few of months of filing an application in the PNP office.

So as the federal government offloads its responsibilities, the provinces are filling in the gaps. In many respects, this trend reflects our political landscape — national identity coupled with regional diversity. We may actually be on the right track.


Ryan N. Rosenberg, BA, LLB, is an immigration lawyer with Larlee & Associates. Email him at rnrosenberg@larlee.com or call 604-681-9887.