The Canadian government has confirmed that it welcomed the highest number of migrants in history to its shores in 2007.

The surge was largely due to a 12 per cent rise in the number of temporary foreign workers entering the country in order to combat Canada’s severe lack of skilled workers in a number of different sectors and industries such as energy and mining, which are currently experiencing an economic boom.

Last year, a total of 429,649 new migrants with Canadian skilled visas were welcomed to the country, roughly 60,000 more than were admitted in 2003.

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Canada welcomes record number of migrants

Canadian Immigration Minister Dianne Finley has announced that the government will be pledging a further $10 million (£5 million) to six organisations, all of which will help migrants who have recently arrived in Ottawa to adapt to a new way of life.

The funds will go towards various aspects of helping newcomers to settle in the province, including finding employment and language training.

Finley commented: “Our government supports newcomers and we want to help them succeed. The services provided by this funding, such as job-search workshops, will allow newcomers to improve their skills and better prepare for their new lives in Canada.”

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More funds pledged to help Ottawa newcomers

Canada’s labour crisis has reached such a desperate level that organisations in the region of Sudbury recently held a press conference at which they asked the general public for advice on how do remedy the problem.

The Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, Cambrian College and College Boreal called upon the public to submit ideas for solving the crisis, which is likely to be improved by heavy Canadian immigration.

The two colleges have been conducting in-depth research into the country’s crippling workforce issues since 2005. They have revealed that as well as suffering from an insubstantial number of workers across various industries, the Canadian labour force is aging, prompting further worry about the decline in numbers among the working population and heightening the need for more migrants with Canadian skilled visas.

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Canadian organisations call on public to help solve worker crisis

Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) has revealed that the federal government will be providing funding for a total of 16 organisations set up to welcome newcomers to Toronto and help them settle in.

Over $30 million has been pledged by Finley, and it is expected that such a substantial amount of money will provide settlement services for up to 10,000 new migrants to the region. These services will include language training, translation and interpretation, referrals to community resources and counselling.

Minister Finley commented: “The Government of Canada is committed to helping newcomers succeed. Toronto has long been an important destination for immigrants. With this funding, thousands of new immigrants, particularly internationally trained immigrants, will have access to language training, community services, and help with finding a job. Their success is good for Toronto and good for Canada as a whole.”

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Canadian government announces funding to help new migrants settle in Toronto

Bell Canada, the country’s largest telephone and telecommunication company, has admitted its concern regarding the nation-wide waning number of IT specialists. It has been suggested that the only possible route out of the industry’s current crisis is thought the aggressive recruitment of foreign professionals with Canadian skilled visas.

Stephane Boisvert, president of the Bell Enterprises Group said: “If left uncontested, the IT skills gap will create gaps in our economic performance, gaps in our productivity, and gaps in our ability to compete globally. It is in everyone's interest to close those gaps as quickly as possible.”

Mr. Boisvert’s opinion was echoed by Dr Michael Bloom, of the Organisational Effectiveness and Learning for the Conference Board of Canada, who stated that there would be “severe” repercussions, should the industry be unable to significantly increase the numbers of its workforce through Canadian immigration.

For the past few years, the Canadian federal government has been instrumental in helping migrants with Canadian skilled visas settle into their new homes and adapt to the country’s way of life. Now, as part of the migrant settlement strategy, Immigration Minister Dianne Finley has announced that Ontario’s Peel Region will be the next to benefit when it receives $830,000.

The Government of Canada is committed to helping newcomers succeed,” Finley said. “With this funding, the Peel region will be better prepared to welcome and assist newcomers, providing much-needed services and easing their transition to life in Canada.”

The funds donated by the government will go towards the Peel Newcomer Strategy Group (PNSG) set up in 2005 in order to ensure that the needs of the region’s Canadian immigration newcomers are met, allowing them to settle in and adapt to life in the area as quickly as possible.

Evelyn Myrie, Executive Director of the PSNG, commented: “With a growing number of immigrants comes a corresponding need to coordinate and improve settlement services for newcomers. Such services will contribute to the economic and social well being of new migrants in the community. The Peel Newcomer Strategy Group has been created to find appropriate solutions to the challenge of assisting newcomers.”

The Canadian government has increased the overall funding for Ontario to $920,000 over five years. The money will go towards aspects of settling in such as language training, helping migrants with Canadian skilled visas establish contacts in their field of work, and assisting them in connecting with volunteers who help them access various settlement-related services.

An industry survey has revealed that Canada is set to spend up to C$110 billion on oilsands projects over the next few years, but the country’s labour crisis could prove to be a major stumbling block to the plans.

If the project is to remain on track, various skilled tradespeople such as engineers, pipe fitters, welders and insulators will be required, and recruiting professionals with Canadian skilled visas is the only feasible way of ensuring that such skills will be readily available.

The CAPP survey found that in the five years from 2007 to 2011, 70 percent more investment is expected in comparison to the amount spent on oilsands projects in the ten year period between 1996 and 2006. It also showed that a crunch period can be expected either in 2009 or 2010 at which point the correct quantities of equipment, materials and employees will be an absolute necessity, with recruitment through Canadian immigration a major priority.

“Unless something radical happens, it's impossible for the work to be done on schedule,” commented Herb Holmes, a manager for Construction Labour Relations in Edmonton. “By radical, I mean for example a huge influx of workers. Also needed would be tools, machining equipment, engineers. We are seeing shortages now and we are not yet at the peak.”

Canada has been hotly tipped to attract a wealth of new migrants in 2008 due to a massive boom that is set to take place in the country’s construction sector.

The Canadian Press had revealed plans for a number of high profile construction projects due to begin in 2008, including the Bow Tower in Calgary, the 256,000 square foot Epcor Tower in Edmonton, an a number of new high-rises at the Alberta University campus. Such projects are clearly going to require a steep increase in the construction sector’s workforce, and the country will be relying primarily on Canadian immigration to provide the skills needed.

Signs of a nationwide effort to attract workers with Canadian skilled visas can be seen in areas such as the province of Manitoba where government spending has been doubled in order to help settle and train foreign newcomers. In the last two years, such initiatives have accounted for a 23 percent increase in migration to Canada.

Meanwhile, parts of Canada, such as Saskatchewan, that usually see large numbers of their population leaving to pursue work in larger regions have experienced a significantly lower number of professionals moving away from the province due to similar schemes.

Calgary-based power company Enimax is one of many major corporations suffering from a severe lack of electrical engineers.

Despite an aggressive recruitment drive to secure the services of local skilled workers, the company has failed to find the required number of tradespeople needed to undertake the construction and maintenance of electricity lines. Moreover, the retirement of a generation of baby-boomers is only making matters worse.

Provincial and federal governments are working on amendments to the current laws on migration, including a major increase in the quota of migrants able to enter the country under the Foreign Workers Program in specific sectors.

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Canada needs electrical engineers urgently

The Canadian province of Alberta, with the help of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, has set up a website that aims to attract a greater number of migrant workers by making the immigration process simpler and easier.

The new initiative has been implemented following the announcement that Alberta will be short of a predicted 109,000 skilled workers by 2015.

Iris Evans, Minister of Employment, Immigration and Industry has hailed the new site as a one-stop destination for information on the immigration process, finding employment and settling into life in Alberta.

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Website launched to encourage migration to Alberta