Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 29th, 2026

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

Is it possible that you're not paying Canadians enough?

[Ben Chalmers]

We pay the highest average wage in the industrial sector in Canada, so I don't know what more we can do in wages.

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

I know you have the need to fill labour on a short-term horizon, but if we're looking at 10 or 15 years out.... I get that you guys are doing advertising, and that's a great thing, but is there something that would probably be a more direct intervention on labour mobility that we could start recommending to the government now, as opposed to just the immigration narrative, when we're looking at a longer-term horizon?

[Ben Chalmers]

Geoff sits on the board of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council, and they have several programs in place—

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

I'm basically out of time. I would just invite Mr. Smith to table that with the committee to include in our report. That would be very helpful.

I'm out of time, colleagues, so I will close with this, although it's very out of scope.

We learned of the passing of renowned thespian Sir Patrick Stewart. Many of us know him from one of his most famous roles, captain of the USS Enterprise, and I think his leadership in playing that role affected many of us. I would just say this: When the world tries to tell you that there are five lights, there are only four.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you, Ms. Rempel Garner.

Next, we have six minutes for Mr. Zuberi.

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

Thanks to the witnesses for being here.

I'll start with the Business and Higher Education Roundtable.

I appreciate your testimony and your involvement in different sectors of society. I assume you work with business, universities, government. You're working in multiple fields. Is that correct?

[Matthew McKean, Chief Officer, Research and Development, Business + Higher Education Roundtable]

That's right.

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

I want to ask about the intersection of those different fields and how you've been able to help newcomers land into the job market.

In a way, obviously, as we've heard from the panel, we're talking about a need for skills that is unfulfilled by Canadians who are here. Industries and businesses need to have talent in order to run and operate, as we've heard this panel speak about, and there's a gap. If our businesses and companies don't have the skills immediately, they will not operate to full capacity.

How are you helping to bridge the gaps between business universities in order to fill that gap where it's needed within companies and enterprises?

[Matthew McKean]

I'll say businesses—comma—universities, colleges and polytechnics—the post-secondary sector, broadly construed.

Our wheelhouse has been work-integrated learning for a number of years now, creating placements and work experiences for students registered in post-secondary education. Obviously a lot of those students have historically been international students who have come to Canada as newcomers, and they're the children of newcomers as well.

The way we bridge that gap is to create programs where there's labour market demand. More often than not, it's where they don't already exist. By partnering the post-secondary institution—again, not one particular type—with a company to create that pathway into the company, we have found more often than not that the value of creating those opportunities for the young people, the post-secondary students, is that it expands their ability to network and develop those skills that we're looking for.

Again, more often than not, it's some type of “how work works” skills that we're looking for in Canada, beyond a technical skill that they'll get in their program and through their work experience. It's developing those pathways between post-secondary education and the company.

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

You operate outside of immigration, don't you? The work you do is not only within the domain of immigration.

[Matthew McKean]

That's right.

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

You've described what you're doing with immigrants and recent arrivals. I'm assuming that you're doing that with all sectors of the population, including the Canadian population. Is that correct?

[Matthew McKean]

That's correct.

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

Can you speak about the impacts of that and what's been born out of what you described there?

[Matthew McKean]

I can, for sure.

With regard to the impacts, what we are trying to solve for is the challenge that entry-level talent is having when it comes to gaining access to the labour market. We have a challenge in Canada in that transition period, whether you've newly graduated with a university undergraduate degree or have a Ph.D. There's a lot of in-between time for people that I think undermines our productivity, and it doesn't help the individual. Work-integrated learning and the types of programming we're doing are meant to close that gap and create opportunities for students to gain access to an employer. It might not be the one they end up working for immediately, but it's nonetheless a valuable experience.

On the employer side, we know it provides a lot of opportunity for employers to find entry-level talent, gain access to new ideas, understand what's happening in the post-secondary space and increase their productivity.

They get lots of benefits that way, but I think Val has something to say.

[Valerie Walker]

What I would just add more generally is that we are helping to bring more granular labour-market intelligence from the companies to the post-secondaries to create those connections at a level that allows the post-secondaries to consider if and how to adapt their programming to be more responsive to companies. That's true of domestic, as well as international, talent.

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

Are you also engaged with universities in that regard?

[Valerie Walker]

Absolutely. Our members include companies, as well as the universities, colleges and polytechnics, working together hand in glove with government to make sure that they are operating more cohesively than they would be if they were sitting in their separate silos.

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

Mr. Conley, in budget 2025, $97 million was allocated for the foreign credential recognition action fund. You have talked about credential recognition. Do you have any specific points on this that you'd like to share with the committee in the next 40 seconds?

[Matt Conley]

When CME saw that, it was certainly a good step in the right direction. It's good to see that acknowledgement and that funding support, but more needs to be done. That's what we hear from countless members.

I was talking the other day with a company that specializes in prefabricated walls. Basically, they can build buildings in a factory and scale buildings at high-rises. They need the ability to have transfer mobility and that recognition for newcomers. That's just one example of many manufacturers that need that support.

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

Your 40 seconds were more like 60 seconds of material.

Thank you.

[Matt Conley]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dzerowicz]

Thank you so much, Mr. Zuberi.

Thank you, Mr. Conley.

Mr. Deschênes, you have the floor for six and a half minutes.

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

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Conley, let's talk about the manufacturing sector. I've made a few visits, particularly to the Saguenay region, to see how things were going. The business owners I met were at their wits' end because labour shortages were making it hard for them to bid on contracts.

They were also trying to retain temporary foreign workers, but because of the tighter rules, they were losing many of them. I imagine that your members are facing similar situations across the country.

The question I'm about to ask comes up quite often.

Given that immigration levels have been relatively high in recent years, why are labour shortages still so pervasive and why is it still so difficult to find workers in the manufacturing sector?