I'm not a specialist in immigration policy. However, with respect to the availability of labour, there's a shortage in health care everywhere in Canada. It affects francophones even more. By that I mean that there are no francophone health care professionals in Canada who are unable to provide services in English as well, at least outside of Quebec.
These are people who are really bilingual, because that's the reality of the workplace. It means that they can work equally well in anglophone, francophone and bilingual settings. This exacerbates the shortage.
Francophone immigration is certainly one solution to the immigration-related problems. Credential recognition is another extremely important factor. There are major challenges in integrating workers from abroad. One example is the language tests prior to the skills upgrading tests. People arrive here thinking they will be working in French, but are told they have to learn English before their capacities can be recognized. I think some changes could be made in this area.
Then, of course, it's important not to forget training. There are structural circumstances that impede the training process. One example of this involves nurse training in Canada. At the moment, several provinces administer an American test that puts francophones at a significant disadvantage. Before this new test was introduced, the success rate for francophones was 93%. After the introduction of the new test, it dropped to 35% in the first year.