Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting us here today. I'm Gary Friend, a past president of CHBA. I'm a new home builder in Surrey, British Columbia, where I've been building custom and multi-family homes for over 25 years. With me today is Jack Mantyla, the national coordinator of education and training with the Canadian Home Builders' Association.
I should mention that we've tabled a CHBA report for the committee, “CHBA Backgrounder on Federal Policies and Regulations Related to the Immigration of Skilled Labour”.
Like many industry sectors, the residential construction industry will experience serious shortages of skilled tradespeople in the years ahead. We have been experiencing shortages of labour in markets across Canada for some time. Training programs such as provincial apprenticeship programs will not be able to supply enough skilled people to meet the demand looking forward.
The nature of the residential construction industry influences our views about immigration of skilled labour.
First, many skilled tradespeople in the residential construction industry are employed under contract, whether immigrant or Canadian-born.
Second, most of the companies in the residential construction industry are small businesses. They do not have the resources on their own to address what can be a very complex and lengthy process to find and hire a skilled immigrant worker.
Third, many of the skilled tradespeople working in the residential construction industry are not recognized by the red seal program and therefore do not receive the same level of recognition in other immigration programs, such as red seal trades.
The CHBA supports the recent direction of Canada's immigration policies, including more provincial involvement and responsibility; more flexibility in the range of occupations eligible for programs, such as the provincial nominee program and the temporary foreign worker program; more responsiveness to the employer requirements, with a shift to employer determination of occupations in need; and increased opportunities to immigrate for people who work within Canada. I'm speaking of the introduction of the Canadian experience class, and the mandatory language requirement, introduced in 2010.
The CHBA has expressed support for these and other recent measures in submissions to Citizenship and Immigration Canada and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
There are two issues related to recognition of foreign credentials that are important for skilled trades: first, language requirements; and, second, recognition of provincially designated residential trades.
In relation to the first point, the language requirements of the federal skilled worker category of the economic immigrants program over-emphasizes the requirements for people working in the residential construction industry. The tiered approach to language proficiency used under the Canadian experience class would be more appropriate for skilled tradespeople.
In relation to the second point, many of the trades required by our industry are provincially designated but not recognized by the red seal program. Also, some do not have the unique national occupational classification codes used by immigration programs. These shortcomings seriously limit the ability of our industry to make use of immigration programs.
I should note that we have recently written to the Forum of Labour Market Ministers to ask them to put this issue of recognition of provincially designated residential construction trades on their agenda. The CHBA believes that broadening recognition of residential construction trades beyond red seal to include all provincially designated trades is one of the most effective means by which governments in Canada can reduce skilled trades shortages and increase labour mobility in the residential construction industry.
The allocation of points for education and experience used in the federal skilled worker category for skilled tradespeople gives relatively greater weight to education over practical experience.
Arranged employment is difficult for many companies. Current immigration programs lack flexibility to accommodate a worker being employed by two or more employers.
On behalf of the CHBA, we're making the following recommendations to the standing committee about the recognition of foreign credentials:
Apply the tiered approach to language proficiency requirements used in the Canadian experience class to other programs, particularly the federal skilled worker category of the economic immigrant program.
Incorporate the issue of recognition of provincially designed residential construction trades not covered by the red seal program into the pan-Canadian framework for the assessment and recognition of foreign credentials.
We'd like to make two other recommendations. Greater consideration must be given to the work experience of skilled tradespeople in the point system ratings of the federal skilled worker category. And in order to meet the arranged employment criterion, there must be more flexibility to accommodate working for two or more employers.
All of these recommendations are designed to address the growing and serious shortage of skilled tradespeople in our industry.
Thank you.