Canada’s efforts to woo experienced international students and workers paid off when Gaurav Gore became the 20,000th permanent resident admitted under the Canadian Experience Class immigration program.
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney welcomed Gore, a University of Toronto MBA student from India, to Canada on Sept. 14, remarking on both Gore’s personal success and the program’s success at attracting highly skilled labour to Canada.
“Gaurav is exactly the sort of skilled worker that Canada hopes to attract and retain through the CEC program,” Kenney said in a press release.
If population trends continue, the Conference Board of Canada estimates that one-million jobs will be unfilled by 2021.
Canada is in the midst of a labour shortage, and experts say that immigration is the only way out.
The Canadian Experience Class – or CEC – provides a fast track for international students or temporary foreign workers in Canada who want to become permanent residents.
I know this because on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012, I myself became a permanent resident through CEC.
People like Gore and myself have worked hard and invested lots of money and time into being Canadian. It would be a waste to send us back with our Canadian degrees and work experience.
If Canada wants to compete on the global stage, it must retain its expertise, not ship it away.
I’m glad Gore and I have immigrated to Canada. But we are the lucky ones.
CEC has become the poster child for the minister’s economic immigration reforms, which focus on recruiting highly skilled workers and weeding out the unskilled.
Over the past few years, Kenney has introduced new language tests for skilled immigrants, cut refugee health services and all but abolished the Federal Skilled Worker program, which used to be the go-to immigration program for skilled workers.
While immigrants who have Canadian degrees and work experience are welcomed to Canada, foreign-born parents and grandparents of landed Canadians are turned away.
What Kenney fails to realize is that his litany of legislation discourages not only the undesirable, but also the deserving.
Kenney says all skilled immigrants must take an objective language test to prove they speak English or French.
I grew up speaking English, majored in English Literature and have worked in communications. Yet I still had to spend $294.95 to take the test and prove I speak English. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh or scream.
Kenney says we don’t need more parents and grandparents immigrating to Canada, mooching off of our increasingly strapped health care system.
Going back home this summer, I felt pangs of guilt knowing that if my aging parents ever became ill, I would be too far away to take care of them.
Immigration should not equal abandonment. If Canada wants to attract skilled workers, like myself, then it needs to make it possible for us to bring our families to this country.
That’s what Kenney doesn’t get. He thinks he can draw a line in the sand and decide who is a “good” immigrant and who is not. But unless the minister openly embraces immigration, he will lose the world’s brightest to greener pastures.
Kenney’s get-tough approach sends the message that most immigrants are liars, illiterates and leeches on the state. His policies are anti-immigration at a time when Canada needs immigrants most.
With a growing labour shortage, Canadian businesses need skilled immigrants to fill jobs. And homegrown businesses must compete globally to attract the best and the brightest away from their native countries.
In order to do this, Kenney must rethink his immigration policy to not just tolerate, but welcome, immigrants to Canada.