There are two things to consider with that. The first concerns the culture. For that, I suggested an awareness campaign to show employers that immigration will become an asset for renewing the labour force.
There is also the issue of incentives. Employers are generally afraid of anything different. However, when they are offered incentives that have an impact on their company's accounts, they are often tempted. In Quebec, the PRIIME program gives incentives to employers who agree to hire immigrants for the first time and covers mentoring and other fees. In these conditions, some employers are encouraged to hire new immigrants and give them experience.
By applying the same formula at the federal level, the results might be significant. But when a measure is implemented, the players must be given all possible chances to succeed. For example, we launched the IPOP program, which enables professionals from abroad to do an internship in order to have their skills recognized. It's a project that everyone wanted to see carried out, but it doesn't provide enough resources to support the professional associations required to implement it. These professional associations also want a cheque to administer the project that, so far, has not been as successful as we would have liked it to be. If we provided them with the necessary means, this program could seriously improve the possibility for foreign professionals to get this recognition. Then, the PRIIME program could…