Province reaches deal on immigrants
Volpe, Colle to sign agreement today Settlement services to be expanded
OTTAWA— Immigrants who come to Ontario can look forward to “ more prosperity” thanks to $900 million in new settlement funding under a federalprovincial deal to be signed today, a senior federal official says.
Federal Immigration Minister Joe Volpe will join with his Ontario counterpart, Mike Colle, for a news conference this morning at Toronto’s Harbourfront Community Centre to formally sign a first-ever immigration agreement for Ontario. The cornerstone of the strategy is $900 million in extra federal funding, spread out over five years, to help the more than 100,000 newcomers who call Ontario home each year have “ more successful outcomes,” the official said. The package includes more than $28 million, already approved, to fund the deal in this fiscal year, which ends in March.
Ontario takes in more than 50 per cent of all immigrants — 125,110 in 2004 — but was alone among the provinces in not having an immigration accord with Ottawa. As a result, it has been getting only $ 819 in federal funding per new arrival, compared with close to $ 4,000 given to Quebec. The agreement will boost Ontario’s share to $ 3,400 at the end of five years. The money will be earmarked for services that help newcomers make the adjustment to their new country by improving their language abilities and job search skills.
“ This will help with the settlement and integration of those who faced some barriers,” the official said.
In particular, immigration officials are hoping to do more to help the family members of economic class immigrants who often experience a tougher time in the job market and don’t fare as well when it comes to incomes.
“ Our long- term hope is obviously that this will help those who are coming to Canada with better language training and more support up front,” the official said. “ The goal is to bring more prosperity to immigrants.” The agreement means that, for the first time, Queen’s Park will be able to fast-track immigrants with needed skills to fill specific labour shortages in the province.
That provision is just as important as the extra cash, Colle said after a meeting of provincial and federal immigrations ministers several weeks ago.
“ I’ve got people that are in auto parts who say we’ve got a need for skilled welders, tool- and- die makers. We need to get them in here,” he said in an interview, adding that Canada is in a “fierce global competition” for the most talented immigrants and governments have to be smart recruiters. As well, federal officials expect the nominee program will be one tool to help encourage immigrants to settle outside of the Greater Toronto Area, the traditional magnet for newcomers to not only Ontario, but Canada.
“ It’s conceivable that a town like the Sault Ste. Marie would be able to say ‘we want so many immigrants and we’ve got jobs for them,’ ” the federal official said. The deal has taken more than a year of negotiations, involving a succession of immigration ministers at Queen’s Park and in Ottawa. But it was left to Volpe and Colle, who share the same Toronto riding of Eglinton- Lawrence, to finalize the details.
“ It has been a long time coming but you want to get the details right,” the official said.
In its mini- budget last week, the federal government proposed almost $5 billion in new spending to help immigrants and aboriginals get into the workforce to offset the looming retirement of a generation of Canadians. But there was no funding offered to tackle the immigration system’s chronic problems, such as a backlog of 700,000 people waiting to come to Canada.