Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 22nd, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

I have the clerk, who takes my time, and we're past it, but let me confirm with the clerk.

The clerk has told me the time continues to run if you choose to introduce a motion in that time.

You have run the clock on your time, Mr. Redekopp.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I would like to challenge the chair. Are you ruling on this? That is not my understanding of procedure.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Based on what the clerk has indicated, yes, that is my ruling.

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I challenge the chair on this ruling.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

You've challenged the chair. Now we will go—

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

I'd like a recorded division, since there was some confusion about that before.

(Ruling of the chair sustained: yeas 6; nays 5)

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

We are now going to continue with the questions, and we'll go for six minutes to Mr. Chang.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

On a point of order, very briefly, should we have even voted on that question? Given that this is a procedural matter, is it not written in black and white on this particular question?

We're taking away time for witnesses. We can do this later on, but I'm curious about that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Can we leave it for the last five minutes of our meeting today?

[Michelle Rempel, Conservative, Calgary Nose Hill, AB]

On a point of order, why would we take five minutes to explain basic procedure to somebody who's been in the House of Commons for 10 years?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Rempel Garner.

I'm now going to give six minutes—

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

On a point of order, I have not been in the House of Commons for 10 years—

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

That's not a point of order. This is now debate.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Don't make up numbers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Please, we are now going to six minutes for Mr. Chang.

Thank you.

[Wade Chang, Liberal, Burnaby Central, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Ms. Bozynski, welcome to committee. My riding of Burnaby Central is a major semiconductor hub in Canada. We have SFU and BCIT.

Canada has great universities and very wonderful engineering programs, but the semiconductor industry needs very specialized skills. Where are we falling short right now, and how could immigration help address the shortage?

[Karen Bozynski]

This actually ties in with Mr. Redekopp's question earlier, which I think I may have misunderstood. I'd like to answer both questions through this.

Canada benefits from having additional graduate students in the master's and Ph.D. programs, because Canada is extremely well respected and has great research capabilities. We're leading the G7. In fact, both stimulating Canadian citizens to pursue master's and Ph.D. programs and welcoming international graduates into those programs can benefit us. We would welcome opportunities for anyone who regrettably finds themselves affected to be able to see if they can pursue a new opportunity with a master's or a Ph.D. to upskill and join the semiconductor industry with the great growth ahead of it.

In fact, the hiring of additional Canadians around these new graduates, like I said, brings significant economic impacts to Canada. In the universities, there's a brand new program that the federal government has introduced called TICAN, or talent innovation Canada, which I think is being well utilized at universities in order to bring about the opportunities for master's and Ph.D. students to work and apply their research directly to industry. That strengthens the semiconductor industry, but it also gives them very important work experience through the process, which makes them even more valuable. That applies to Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as international hires.

We very much welcome such programs and the continuation of such programs.

[Wade Chang, Liberal, Burnaby Central, BC]

If you could ask the federal government to make only two changes to help Canada attract and retain talent, what would they be? How would those changes help Canadian companies grow and strengthen Canada's economic resilience as we diversify our trade relations?

[Karen Bozynski]

As we mentioned, some of the changes we're recommending are.... For the semiconductor industry, one of the gaps is around the five- to 15-year experience level. The current age-related point scoring penalizes anyone over the age of 30. It could be a simple change that doesn't penalize some of these great candidates with the five- to 15-years experience level. That puts them over that barrier of age 30. That is one very tangible and easy change that would benefit the semiconductor industry.

Prioritizing the semiconductor industry in draws would also be a benefit, because we bring the economic impact, and semiconductors are needed across tier-one occupations. Even though last Friday's announcement removed the requirement for an LMIA, or labour market impact assessment, where there could be a voluntary LMIA to indicate that there is a gap in Canada, perhaps there could be additional points awarded for that.

Right now, things need to be faster. We heard in a previous meeting that I reviewed, in June, I believe, that two to four weeks would be the goal for work permit processing. Our companies are saying they depend on fast processing. They're currently waiting for six, eight or nine months for a work permit. They're losing the opportunity to execute a project that could bring not only economic impact to Canada but also the ability to hire more Canadians around them to deliver a project. They can't do that if they can't get a work permit for one of the critical hires. Expediting that so it's two to four weeks, as was suggested earlier in these committee meetings in June, would be ideal, as would strengthening graduate students' employment in permanent residency. Applying graduate students' work to the permanent residency application would be another great opportunity.

There's also an experience-based wage for the NOC codes that would be beneficial. The prevailing wage has just a midpoint, but it includes anyone who's brand new or 20 years higher in one single NOC code. We have to recognize that salaries would be different for people with different experiences, so we'd recommend experience-based ranges for NOC codes.

[Wade Chang, Liberal, Burnaby Central, BC]

When a company needs to bring a highly specialized engineer to Canada, are our immigration programs helping us compete, or are there any barriers that make it harder to attract that person to Canada?

[Karen Bozynski]

I'm sorry. Could you say that one more time?

[Wade Chang, Liberal, Burnaby Central, BC]

Are our immigration programs helping us compete globally in terms of attraction?

[Karen Bozynski]

Because we are competing globally for talent, the faster we can process, the more reassurance we can give that things like graduate students' work experience could be applied to permanent residency, and the clearer and more transparent the path to permanent residency...this would signal internationally that Canada is open for business and to welcome this talent into Canada, so that we can win on so many levels.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Mr. Chang.

Thank you, Ms. Bozynski.

Mr. Deschênes, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Alexis Deschênes, Bloc, Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Listuguj, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Good morning, everyone.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for being here.

Ms. Bozynski, you just said something interesting about the processing times for renewing temporary foreign worker permits. Did you say it takes around nine months to renew a temporary work permit?