Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We are delighted to be here.
While we meet in cyberspace, I want to acknowledge off the top that I come to you from the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinabe, the Haudenosaunee, the Chippewa and the Wendat peoples. Of course, we're all in different parts of Turtle Island, where the lands and waters have been stewarded by first nations, Inuit and Métis people for generations. The single best way we can thank them for that is to truly redouble our efforts on the path towards truth and reconciliation.
The Ontario Chamber of Commerce, my colleagues and I represent some 157 chambers and boards of trade across the province of Ontario, which in turn represent some 60,000 businesses and organizations, which include organizations like the Ontario Medical Association, various hospitals and different organizations in the care economy.
I want to kick off, though, by underscoring that the labour shortage issue permeates the economy as a whole. While certainly accentuated during the COVID crisis, it is something that we've been consistently tracking with our members in our annual surveys. Our latest survey, which was done for this year's “Ontario Economic Report”, underscored that some 62% of members are facing serious labour shortages, and that is across all sectors.
One area we're focused on in particular is ensuring that traditionally under-represented groups, particularly in the area of disabilities, are approached with very targeted supports and training to ensure that, at a time when we are desperate for labour, no talent and no potential is left behind.
In focusing on those elements that are specific to the federal government, we have to start with immigration. Clearly these last two years have been an enormous challenge to process. We note that as of December 2021, there were over 1.8 million applications in the queue. Particularly in the area of skilled labour, we're seeing a massive backlog that has to be focused on if we're going to attack this problem.
There are other issues specific for Ontario within the larger immigration question. Number one, we would very much like to see Ontario's allocation of immigrants, under the Ontario immigrant nominee program, increase from the current 9,000 to a minimum of 18,000, and quite frankly, that number could be much higher. We call upon the federal government to work with the Ontario government to eliminate the current requirement for labour market impact assessments for OINP participants, particularly those hired in communities with populations under 200,000, where it is far more challenging for employers to attract and retain the workers they need to fill labour shortages.
We recommend expanding Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's ability to process express entry for federal skilled worker applications domestically and abroad, as well as to process international student study permits and visas at Canadian mission offices, and recommend working with the Ontario government to develop a long-term northern and rural Ontario immigration strategy to ensure communities can attract and retain immigrants.
We recommend continuing to modernize and address administrative burdens within the temporary foreign worker program. We were encouraged to see the federal government recently announce its foreign worker program workforce solutions road map, but we need to be moving, not just looking at the road map.
As well, we recommend reviewing the national occupation classification codes to create opportunities for permanent residence for labourers and operators.
There are still enormous barriers to interprovincial labour mobility that make absolutely no sense in an increasingly competitive world, a world where labour is at such a premium and not necessarily in the right places. This has been exacerbated by inconsistent certification, training standards and acceptance of credentials across the country.
As we chart our road to recovery, the Government of Canada must develop a strategy to boost long-term economic growth by further accelerating efforts to remove barriers to interprovincial labour mobility. One thing that we could do is create a public repository of information about labour mobility barriers in Canada to help policy-makers prioritize those efforts and strengthen the case for reform.
The support of health care—