Barriers are local, like politics. It is possible, based on particular occupations, to have a skill set that is regulated in the home country of the applicant that will be accepted in Canada. Some things require local expertise. Most things do not, such as carpentry, electricians and health care professionals.
What Canada is doing well is eliminating the interprovincial problems for accreditation, and then we upgrade to eliminating the international barriers. We're on that road. It is being done. What we need are like-minded countries—like New Zealand and Australia, to name two—to allow for a labour pool in those countries that will have access to employment in all those countries with less red tape.
In terms of processing times, it's the same old problem. We just have to nail it down and have advance accreditation.