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NOTES FOR AN ADDRESS BY
THE HONOURABLE MONTE SOLBERG
MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION

at the
Fifth Annual Canadian Legislative Conference
of the
Canadian Building Trades

Ottawa, Ontario
May 8, 2006

Check against delivery

* * * * *

Introduction

To begin, I extend warm greetings to members of the Canadian Building Trades:

• Today, your membership makes up what could well be the most skilled construction work force in the world.
• But your organization has a deep history and it traces its roots to Canada’s early years.
• And as the minister for Citizenship and Immigration, I note that your members literally built this country, and that those members are immigrants, and the sons and daughters of immigrants. And that is what I want to talk to you about today.
• Tout comme mes autres collègues présents ce matin, je vous remercie de m’avoir invité.

Change and Priorities

Let me start with January 23. On that day, Canadians voted for change.

They asked our party to lead that change, and we’ve responded with what I believe is a focused agenda.

We know what we want to do.

And we’ve got a blueprint. We’ve put on our work boots.

Our immediate agenda has five priorities. Not fifty. Five. Five priorities that will deliver real results for Canadians on issues that matter most to them.

But these five aren’t the end of the matter. They’re only the beginning.

Une fois cela fait, nous allons passer à d’autres priorités importantes pour les Canadiens.

Today, I want to talk with you about the need to ensure our immigration system can help build this country and contribute to our future prosperity.

Labour Market Responsiveness

As you know, world commodity prices are soaring and Canada’s economy is strong. Thousands of jobs are being created. One of the risks to prosperity is the growing concern that vacant jobs in key sectors and regions across the country are not being filled. Construction sites, production lines, truck depots and medical centres, to name a few, are crying out for workers. In my province, Alberta, the projections show a labour shortage of 100,000 workers in the next few years. I live in Brooks. I know we have many business owners who simply cannot find skilled workers and are being forced to turn away business. And that hurts all of us.

People have to be at the centre of this agenda. To be successful, we have to make full use of the talents and expertise of all members of our society, and for that, a more educated and skilled labour force is key.

This will require teamwork. In fact, Perrin Beatty, the CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, and Ken Georgetti, the President of the Canadian Labour Congress, emphasized this when they called for an approach that, quote, “…coordinates the ideas and efforts of business, labour, and the provincial and federal governments to develop the skills of our work force.”

We do have to work together, so how to go about it? First, we can clearly do more to encourage more of our young people to enter the skilled trades.

And the budget has laid the foundation. Prime Minister Harper used the budget to deliver on commitments that will benefit the trades sector, including a new tax credit of up to $2,000 for employers who hire apprentices, a new $1,000 grant for first- and second-year apprentices and a new tool tax deduction for tradespeople.

It’s obvious that Canadian employers have to be able to draw on their employees’ full range of skills. But they also need to be able to hire the additional skilled workers they need. But, as we all know, immigration has always been part of our labour mix. It must continue to be a part of our strategy. Et notre gouvernement est déterminé à agir à ce sujet.

Through our permanent immigration program, we select skilled workers who have the training and education, as well as the language skills and work experience, that will help them to make a contribution to Canada ’s longer-term competitiveness.

The provinces also play an important role. Quebec selects its own skilled workers, and the Provincial Nominee Program helps other provinces support the immigration of individuals who have the skills and other attributes needed.

But there are questions about whether this approach to selecting immigrants is sufficient for providing the kinds of skilled workers that employers are looking for. We will need to look at how we can make this system more responsive to these needs in the future, and I would welcome your ideas on this.

In the meantime, there are urgent labour market needs that have to be addressed now. The Temporary Foreign Workers Program has been used to bring workers from other countries to Canada to fill jobs on a temporary basis when there is no one available to do the job in Canada. Through this program, employers were able to hire 95,000 temporary workers last year. The workers filled a wide range of positions, from seasonal agricultural jobs to others that required highly specialized training. My department and I are working closely with colleagues from Human Resources and Social Development Canada to make the program work better for all Canadians and we look forward to further discussions with this group about these issues.

In the past, employers and labour groups worked together to address specific local labour market pressures. For example, the Construction Recruitment External Workers Services agreement, also known as the CREWS program, was designed to address labour market shortages in Toronto’s construction industry. CREWS combines a commitment to develop the skills of Canadian workers and to bring in foreign workers to fill shortages. There is a similar agreement in Alberta to facilitate the use of temporary foreign workers in the oil sands so that important projects in that sector can proceed.

Supporting the Success of Immigrants

But addressing Canada’s labour market needs is only part of the key to future success. We need to also ensure that newcomers to Canada are prepared and able to succeed soon after they arrive. Notre gouvernement a déjà pris des mesures à ce sujet.

Right of Permanent Residence Fee

That’s why in last week’s budget, we delivered on our commitment to cut the Right to Permanent Residence Fee in half from $975 to $490. A fee imposed in 1995. We knew this fee was a real burden for many immigrants — and we have not forgotten what family life costs. For a husband and wife, that’s a $1,000 saving. One thousand dollars that they can use to find their first job and start their new life.

Settlement Funding and Canada-Ontario Agreement

The budget also announced a significant increase in funding for settlement and integration programs. These programs help ensure newcomers establish successfully in Canada by providing them with services like language training. The government is allocating an additional $307 million in settlement funding over the next two years. This will give immigrants access to a whole network of people and services that are there to help them succeed.

The funding will help us to deliver on our In this respect, we have also made a commitment to fund the Canada-Ontario Agreement, as well as to provide new funding for other provinces and territories outside of Quebec.

All of these measures help newcomers to access the opportunities that Canada provides, and empower them to realize their potential. Immigrants come to Canada to build a better life for themselves and for their families. And just like your parents and grandparents, they come for the jobs. They deserve our support.

Foreign Credential Recognition

Better recognition of foreign credentials was also part of the government’s election platform. And now, the government is committed to taking action. As you heard in the budget speech, “the government is moving forward on its commitment to create an agency to ensure foreign-trained immigrants meet Canadian standards, while getting those who are trained and ready to work in their fields of expertise into the work force more quickly.” This agency will work with the provinces and regulatory bodies to ensure that foreign-trained workers can meet Canadian standards. Our goal is to work with employers and professional associations to knock down the barriers that block talented people from pursuing opportunities in Canada.

Conclusion

Together with my colleague Diane Finley, the Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, I am committed to working with our partners and organizations such as yours, to improve the lives of immigrants — and, in turn, everyone’s prospects for prosperity.

Canada is a nation founded on immigration, initiative, and the calloused hands of working men and women. It is still our story today. Every year, hundreds of thousands of newcomers place their faith in the promise of Canada, and they have a lot to offer. They might not have much in the way of material goods, but they come speaking many languages. They come with valuable skills. They come with unique experiences, and they still come with calloused hands. Je sais que nous voulons tous faire que le Canada soit encore meilleur.

As Canada’s Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, I look forward to working in partnership with you.

I wish you well in your conference proceedings, and thank you again for your invitation.

__________

The Honourable Gary Lunn, Minister of Natural Resources; The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Labour and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec.