Blog Posting - Rachel Notley's Immigration Platform

Immigration policy was not, as a candidate, nor will it be, as the new Alberta Premier, at the top of Rachel Notley's list of priorities. The Alberta NDP provided no details on how they would address the issue of immigration in the province and this makes some sense given that provinces have very limited powers with respect to this sphere, which is almost wholly under the purview of the Federal Government (other than in Quebec).

Nevertheless, her public statements regarding immigration have closely followed talking points from the Alberta Federation of Labour. She has argued for the closure of the temporary foreign worker program and the granting of permanent resident status to all current temporary foreign workers. Her solution for the demographic and labour market need for immigration is to close the foreign worker program, but open up direct paths for immigration for foreigners. She has not made any statements , that we are aware of regarding the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program (AINP), the sole avenue for the province to select its own immigrants.

In the coming weeks and months we would hope that Ms. Notley finds her footing regarding this issue. Her previous declarations are nonsensical in that they do not accord with present realities. The Federal Government has control over immigration programs and, at present, it is nearly impossible for immigrants to come to Canada, under an economic class, without first being foreign workers. Advocating the closure of the foreign worker program would, if enacted, have the perverse effect of closing paths to immigration to most members of economic categories. Secondly, Ms. Notley, if her goal is to assist current foreign workers in Alberta to immigrate, needs to bargain for a higher quota of nominations under the AINP with the Federal government as well as create further avenues for selection under the AINP and improve AINP processing times. These will be tangible measures to grow immigration, assist temporary foreign workers and also help to prevent employer abuse. We hope Ms. Notley and her team does not overlook these important issues in their transition.

Comments

[Kssangha]

There are tons of low wage job openings in Alberta as compare to skilled category openings. Not sure how Alberta nominee program will help to solve low skill jobs. Alberta umoyment rate will hit 6% soon.