Why Does Ontario Want More Control Over Immigration?

Ontario is looking out for ways in which it can modify its immigration rules in order to combat with the declining rates of immigration, the requirement of labor that is not satisfied and the dwindling job prospects for newcomers.

The new immigration strategy for the province would be revealed on Monday. According to Charles Sousa, the Immigration Minister of Ontario, it is time that Ontario must look for skilled craftsman by increasing the economic migrant ratio and also raising the quota of provincial nominee imposed by the federal i.e. province can chose some immigrants. The quota is expected to increase to 5,000 per year by the year 2014.

Sousa also said that it is a very strong step taken by Ontario that will give new direction to the immigration rules. It will help allure some skilled immigrants and also bring in new capital that will help in the economic development of the country. Sousa would be discussing his plan with Jason Kenney, the federal Immigration Minister, in a meeting to be held in the second week of November.

The number of immigrants in Ontario has been continuously declining. It has dropped by 33% in the last ten years. The number of immigrants was 99,000 in 2011 while it was 148,640 in 2001. When compared with other provinces, almost seventy %of the immigrants are either skilled craftsman or investors adding to the province’s economy. They are known to belong to the economic class”. However, only 52 %immigrants in Ontario belong to this class.

As the economy is becoming more and more knowledge based and the number of manufacturing jobs is decreasing, the newcomers are hesitating to come to Ontario. In the year 2011, the immigrants in Canada earner 23.2 %more than the ones in Ontario and 15.7 %were even jobless in Ontario. It is believed, that by the year 2025 Ontario will fall short of 364,000 craftsmen.

Sousa said that the immigration woes of Ontario is also because of Ottawa since it has placed a lot of restrictions on its federal skilled worker program which is very much responsible for alluring the newcomers.

One can call the new plan very crucial in deciding the province future. Allan O’Dette,Ontario Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, hopes that the new rules will reverse the declining immigration rates and will bring in new skills. However, Kenney did not comment on the whole thing. But the critics seem to be quite happy with the upcoming changes.