Citizenship and Immigration Committee on March 12th, 2020

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll split my time with Mr. Sorbara and let him go first.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

I'd like a follow-up on the collaboration of the federal and provincial governments on that program, OINP, and so forth.

[Catrina Tapley]

I was going to give you a one-word response, which is “excellent”. We have good co-operation with Ontario on the provincial nominee program, and we work very closely with them.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

On the November 2016 changes to the express entry program, specifically the changes in terms of the awarding of points as to whether you have a job offer or don't have a job offer, before November 2016, I think a majority of applicants under express entry had a pre-existing job offer to come to Canada.

Under the changes afterwards, it's the reverse situation. Can you talk about some of the skill set changes or skill set impacts that have happened due to those November 2016 changes, please, or about anything that you've seen and that you've come to a conclusion on?

[Catrina Tapley]

We continue to examine it. We look really closely at what happens under express entry as to who is coming through, what the point score is and what we offer points for.

The changes you talk about really focused, I think, on some specific occupations. If I cast my mind back far enough, what we worried about at the time with the really enhanced points for job offers is that we were seeing a number of people come through express entry who were food service counter supervisors or who were in a number of different occupations. We worried that they were crowding out different occupational categories such as IT workers, where there was a great deal of need. We think the adjustment has really helped to just sort of put a better balance between those two things.

There are still points for a job offer. It just wasn't as high as what it was.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

It's on the IRCC website, with the reports, but we are seeing from that a different configuration of source country immigration, because of different skill sets. You are seeing a bump up in certain areas and a bump down—significantly—in other areas in terms of skill sets.

My comment on this is that a lot of employers are demanding certain skill sets and the supply potentially is not there to meet those skill sets because of the reverse onus. Before now, you could have a job offer to meet your demand and now it's based on your number of points, which is a slightly different system.

[Catrina Tapley]

I think it's important to look at things in conjunction with one another. In the global skills strategy, which enables employers to bring in workers in high-demand occupations quickly to Canada—within two weeks—the pathway between temporary and permanent on that side we think is pretty good, where people coming through are having a great deal of success under express entry.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

The global skills strategy is something fantastic that we've put in.

Marwan.

[Marwan Tabbara, Liberal, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

I want to continue on with that and specifically turn to the trades. We are always saying that in trades we have a shortage of skilled labour, etc. Can we not find a way to expedite the global skills strategy, almost, to fill in these gaps, particularly in the trades and construction?

I know that sometimes certain members might not meet certain requirements, but can we maybe alter the point system specifically in this field so that we can fill that gap?

[Catrina Tapley]

Madam Chair, there is a specific category under express entry that focuses on skilled trades to make sure that we have a good pathway for skilled trades workers to come into Canada on this. The global skills strategy attracts a variety of talent, but it's not the only pathway for skilled tradespersons to immigrate to Canada.

Most came through other programs. Provincial nominee programs have been an important source for skilled trades as well. There are other high skills programs that people come through, so it's not just the federal skilled trades program where we're seeing individuals come through. We're happy to continue to examine that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Mr. Tabbara.

We have four minutes left, so we will have two minutes for Ms. Normandin and two for Ms. Kwan.

Ms. Normandin.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you.

Am I correct in saying that, in addition to health and security reasons, the main reason for refusing student visa applications is the fact that a student does not have sufficient financial guarantees that he or she will return to his or her country of origin at the end of his or her studies?

[Catrina Tapley]

Thank you for your question.

First of all, it depends on the country.

Funds are one key reason. I think one of the biggest source countries we have for student movement where that was an issue is Nigeria. In Nigeria, we have gone to great lengths to put in a new program where we can better examine, with the co-operation of the Nigerian government and the Central Bank of Nigeria, a real source of funds around that, in trying to reduce some of those integrity concerns so that we have a smoother pathway for students coming in.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

One of the wishes of the Government of Quebec is to ensure that students, on the contrary, stay in Quebec when they finish their studies.

In your opinion, isn't there a contradiction between the Canadian government's desire to ensure that they leave at the end of their studies and the Government of Quebec's desire to ensure that they stay when they finish their studies?

[Catrina Tapley]

Thank you.

That's a good question.

The reality is that we admit over 300,000 students a year. It would be really nice for all of them to stay, but we don't have level space around 300,000. We want to continue to ensure that we have a decent pathway for students to do well under express entry and to do well under our additional programs.

I'm going to say that, in 2019, over one-quarter of those who were successful in the economic category came in as international students. We're pretty proud of that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Your time is up.

Ms. Kwan, you have two minutes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

This is just to clarify. In my last round, I asked for the information with respect to program shortfall in terms of the budget. Could we also get those numbers in terms of FTEs per program?

[Catrina Tapley]

Yes.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Let's go back to the caregiver program. If an applicant has an occupation-specific work permit issued under the new pilot, can the applicant work for two employers, provided that it's the same occupation?

[Catrina Tapley]

Dr. Kochhar, would you have an answer for that?

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar]

If I understand the question correctly, if they already have a visa for our caregiver program under occupation-specific, they could work in the same occupation with two employers.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

For employers to hire migrant caregivers under the new pilot program, do they need to meet a certain household income to be eligible?

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar]

Again, I would say that to get into the caregiver program you will need to demonstrate a certain level of financial stability.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

This is for the employer.

[Dr. Harpreet Kochhar]

Yes, there is a commitment from employers that they can actually support the caregivers they're bringing in.