Ottawa holds first talks with provinces about reducing temporary foreign resident numbers

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Talks about reducing the number of temporary foreign residents in Canada have kicked off between the federal government and provinces, with the Immigration Minister Marc Miller acknowledging that there needs to be better co-ordination to shrink numbers across Canada.

The Forum of Ministers Responsible for Immigration (FMRI) met in Montreal on Friday, where Mr. Miller asked his provincial and territorial counterparts to provide figures to show where there is a need to bring in more foreign workers, as he took the first step to reducing numbers.

There are now about 2.5 million temporary residents, a number that includes asylum seekers, international students and people here on work permits. The government plans to reduce the proportion of temporary residents in the population from 6.2 per cent to 5 per cent over the next three years. That would decrease the temporary resident population by about 19 per cent.

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Beginning this fall, Ottawa plans to set targets for the number of temporary residents it will allow, alongside those it already sets for permanent residents. The targets will be finalized after talks with provinces, including about their labour needs, which will continue into the summer.

The FMRI had preliminary talks Friday about the setting of permanent and temporary immigration targets for 2025-2027. At the first meeting since setting the new targets for temporary residents, the provinces and Ottawa agreed on better co-ordination and data sharing among different levels of government. Mr. Miller wants provinces to communicate where there is a need to bring in foreign workers – for example, as agricultural labourers or to work in the construction trades.

The ministers stressed that temporary residents play an important role in labour markets, and reductions in numbers must be managed strategically to take account of labour needs in sectors where foreign workers play a valuable role, according to a communiqué issued after the talks. Some provinces said they would like the federal government to extend the length of some postgraduate work permits in the health care sector and certain trades to fill much-needed roles.

The sharing of responsibilities to house the growing number of asylum seekers between provinces was also high on the agenda to reduce the burden on Quebec and Ontario. The forum agreed to establish a working group to better manage the flow of asylum claimants and distribution of resources to support them, which the Quebec government said afterward was the initiative of Christine Frechette, the province’s Immigration Minister.

“At the end of the meeting of Canada’s Immigration Ministers, it was recognized that Quebec and Ontario are experiencing disproportionate pressure from asylum seekers,” said Maude Méthot-Faniel, communication director for Ms. Frechette.

“The Quebec government wants this committee to meet quickly in order to reduce the growing pressure on public services and housing in Quebec.”

At a press conference after the FMRI, Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan’s Immigration Minister, said the meeting had been constructive and had included talks on how to help settle Ukrainians who have had fled to Canada since the Russian invasion. He said many had moved to Saskatchewan and were successfully settling into the community there.

Ministers also discussed ways to ensure that Canada’s work permit programs are not misused or exploited, and to ensure that Canadian workers are given the first opportunity to fill jobs. The House of Commons immigration committee is currently looking at abuse of the Labour Market Impact Assessment, which allows employers to hire a foreign worker if no Canadian is available to do the job.

At a press conference, Mr. Miller said “we have some things to work out when it comes to international students and the issuing of postgraduate work permits.”

He said it is important that Canada is not “simply churning out fake business degrees or fake MBAS,” which is leading to people who have paid vast sums to study here being stranded in lower-paid jobs.

“They never came to the country to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to sling pizza or drive Ubers.”

At the FMRI, provincial and territorial ministers also renewed calls on the federal government to reinstate $625-million in Labour Market Transfer Funds cut in this year’s budget. They have warned that the cut rolls skills and employment training funding back to pre-2017 levels.

Zoe Knowles, a spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development David Piccini, said the $625-million in funding is essential to employment and settlement services.

The government’s main priorities in the meeting were centred around asylum seekers and setting clear and predictable timelines for processing and reimbursement costs, she added.

Those concerns will be addressed at the promised federal-provincial table on the issue, she said, which Ontario views as a victory in the talks.