Canada tweaks immigration programs to ease labour pains
Canada tweaks immigration programs to ease labour pains
By Fabian Dawson
New Canadian Media
The federal government’s move to expand Canada’s working-holiday program must be followed with timely processing of applications, say immigration advocates and employers.
The government announced this week that it intends to extend work permits to family members of foreign workers to ease a historical nationwide labour crisis. But that could bog down processing time and further frustrate Canadian employers desperately looking for workers.
Canada is currently struggling with a critical labour shortage — over one million vacancies — and a historical visa processing backlog with about 2.6 million applications stuck in the pipeline.
To address this issue, Immigration Canada announced a 20 per cent increase in the number of applicants who can apply under the 2023 International Experience Canada (IEC) Program, or the working-holiday program.
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