Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I entirely agree with Mr. Bevilacqua's remarks. I appreciate his framing this in a non-partisan sense, because it is not a partisan issue. In fact, the data indicates that for at least two decades, under successive governments and different parties, we have seen a decline in the standard of living, the rate of employment, the economic success of newcomers. This is an issue that really preoccupies me. Our government has tried to take some steps to assist in faster economic integration of newcomers, including our tripling of settlement funding in the provinces outside of Quebec to reach the Quebec level. We have much more robust language training available, job mentorship programs, and integration programming in general.
To give you one example, I made an announcement in Toronto three weeks ago about the HIPPY program which provides in-house integration services to stay-at-home moms and dads of preschool children. We're doing a lot more—three to four times more—in those programs than was the case a few years ago. But you're quite right that in and of itself these will not turn the situation around. Obviously foreign credential recognition is a big part of the problem, and we hope that we finally are on the cusp of serious cooperation among the provinces and between the provinces and their respective professional agencies to get faster, streamlined pathways to credential recognition. I believe we're getting there. I think the governments of Ontario and British Columbia have been taking some meaningful measures in that respect, as has Manitoba's.
I think overall, though, Mr. Chairman, what we need to focus on in our immigration program is newcomers who fit into the labour market opportunities that exist in Canada. Premier Campbell of British Columbia once said to me that we don't need more unrecognized engineers driving taxi cabs in British Columbia; that we have lots of jobs that are going unfilled and need newcomers who can come and fill those jobs. That's what we've been trying to do with the action plan for faster immigration and prioritizing occupational categories that are in national demand. I personally believe it's also what we've been doing by working with various provinces in expanding the provincial nominee programs, whereby people have a job offer when they get to Canada, so that there's no transition or underemployment or “survival job” time. A welder from Poland who arrives in Manitoba with a welding job is working that job theoretically the next week, paying taxes and being fulfilled.
So I think there have been some incremental improvements in immigration policy to more closely align our intake with our labour market needs. But I agree with you, Mr. Bevilacqua, that a lot more needs to be done. I would be very open to suggestions in that regard.