Ontario wants more power over immigration-McGuinty

Canada, 29th July: Ontario must have higher power over immigration, asserts Dalton McGuinty, Ontario’s Premier.

Provide equal resources to Ontario as other Canadian provinces-McGuinty government--While referring to British Columbia’s power over immigration, McGuinty said that Ontario should also be given same immigration control in order to enable this largest Canadian province help new immigrants.

Currently, other Canadian provinces including Manitoba, Quebec and British Columbia enjoy increased powers as well as resources as compared to Ontario to facilitate settlement of new immigrants, quipped McGuinty.

Ontario needs same powers to assist new immigrants find jobs or begin their business and integrate successfully into Canadian society.

Ontario attracts maximum number of immigrants—The premier has maintained the fact that Ontario attracts maximum number of immigrants annually. According to figures, around 100,000 immigrants come to this Canadian province, and this is the highest figure of immigrants in any Canadian province, he added.

Hence, the federal government must help newcomers coming here in finding jobs in their respective professions.

Majority of international trained immigrants work on low-paying jobs--Out of the total workforce of Ontario, immigrants’ percentage is nearly 47 percent, figures from the latest government news release state. However, just 24 percent of the total foreign-trained professionals are able to work in their selected fields.

And this is due to several barriers faced by newcomers in Canada including lack of work experience in Canada, language skills, difficulty in recognition of foreign credentials and tedious procedures for licensing in Canada. Hence, the government is waking up to assist new immigrants, especially foreign-trained doctors, get knowledge and information about professional licensing in Canada.

Fair access to professions for newcomers coming to Ontario--Ontario aims to get better immigration powers to help foreign-trained newcomers including doctors begin their practice in their chosen profession at the earliest.

For this, Fairness Commissioner of Ontario is going to collaborate with professional regulatory bodies and the government to bring desired improvement in the professions and employment market of Ontario.

This includes reviewing--

• entry-to-practice conditions in Canada like compulsory Canadian work experience for foreign-trained medical professionals to remove any barriers while ensuring quality in various sectors; and

• any proposals for maximizing work opportunities for internationally trained doctors.