TORONTO — The Ontario Skilled Trades Alliance (OSTA) is calling on the federal government to amend immigration regulations to bolster the construction workforce.
The OSTA brought together skilled trades organizations from across the province Jan. 6 for a virtual Summit on Workforce Development to address the growing skilled labour shortage, stated a release.
The summit passed a number of resolutions, including:
- working to increase the cap on temporary foreign workers from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the workforce at companies building public infrastructure projects and housing, with a particular focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises;
- doubling the cap under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP); and
- allocating 20 per cent of the 9,000 seats within OINP for NOC level C and D immigrants who meet critical labour markets needs in regions across the province.
“Governments are investing billions of dollars to improve critical infrastructure and address the housing crisis at a time when Ontario is struggling to find enough workers to meet the growing demand,” said OSTA chair Patrick McManus in a statement. “We’re urging the federal government to be part of the solution, by amending the immigration system to allow far more skilled and semi-skilled construction workers into the province.
“We’re facing a skilled labour shortage that’s leading to higher project costs and delays across the province. More skilled, in-demand newcomers are needed now, before it gets worse.”
It is about time! We require more cheaper labour and who better to entice than the underprivileged and the poor from foreign countries. What other choice is there? I mean our children know better than to get duped into these “lucrative” that cannot even afford them to buy a home.