Immigration backlog exacerbates labour woes

While labour shortages aren’t new to Ontario, the pandemic has amplified them in several professions.

These shortages, often coupled with absences due to workers becoming infected with COVID-19, are impacting service delivery, product availability, economic recovery, and business growth.

Although the struggle for talent is profound within the Greater Toronto Area, it is dire in rural and remote parts of the province. Further complicating matters is Ontario’s aging workforce, declining birth rates, and immigration backlogs.

First, we need more newcomers in Ontario, and we need them yesterday. While efforts are underway to address the backlog, recent reports cite that Canada’s immigration backlog sits at nearly 2 million applications. This is a major problem on its own, let alone with other dynamics at play.

It’s no secret that Canada’s population is aging — that is, the baby boomers are retiring, causing additional strain on an already tight labour market. In addition, the number of babies born in Canada fell to a nearly 15-year low in 2020. An aging workforce will do three things: expand the number of job vacancies across the economy; create more demand for health-care and long-term-care services; and put pressure on Canada’s pension system.

In Canada, the federal government gives each province a set allocation of economic immigrants they are allowed to accept each year. In 2021, that allocation to Ontario was 9,000 — wholly insufficient given the available opportunities in Ontario for gainful employment. While the province has called on the federal government to double the amount, the actual need is likely much higher.

Second, the process of validating demand in a given sector further exacerbates labour market disparities in rural and remote communities. While there are some exemptions, most employers need labour market impact assessments (LMIAs) before hiring a temporary foreign worker to fill an available position. This means they need to prove there is a need for a temporary foreign worker and that no Canadians or permanent residents are available to do the job.

However, LMIAs use provincial data to demonstrate whether immigration is needed to fill employment gaps. Employers in small and rural communities who are unable to attract residents from major urban centres are often denied the opportunity to hire temporary foreign workers because LMIA data show that sufficient talent is available within Canada to fill the role, even if these individuals are unwilling to relocate to that area.

In the past couple of years, programs have been introduced to fill those gaps at both the federal and provincial levels. In partnership with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the rural and northern immigration pilot was introduced to create a path to permanent residence for skilled foreign workers who want to work and live in one of the participating communities.

Similarly, the OINP regional immigration pilot was introduced to help fill local labour shortages and support economic growth in select rural and small communities. Both programs have been met with great success. These regional immigration pilot programs need to be expanded and made permanent.

For example, the Thunder Bay Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) is the local administrator of the rural and northern immigration pilot. Surpassing its goals, “according to the CEDC, out of the 162 newcomers approved last year, 134 were already living in the city and had strong connections to the community.” These individuals and their families may now apply for permanent residence.

These pilot programs and others such as the municipal nominee program are important for distributing the benefits of economic immigration away from major cities to smaller underserved communities.

Rural communities are key to Canada’s economy and social fabric, yet their future is at risk. They tend to have fewer recent immigrants and a slightly older population compared to urban Canada.

While most parties throughout this election will focus on gimmicky, lofty, or untested public policies, it is urgent that Ontario’s next government looks beyond the GTA and prioritizes rural, remote, and northern community labour force demand.