Labour-strapped British Columbia and Alberta should notice changes quickly under a federal government program to ease regulations on foreign workers coming to Canada, Immigration Minister Monte Solberg says.
"There are going to be certain occupations under tremendous pressure where employers are having trouble finding workers," Solberg told reporters after his announcement. "We will reduce the requirements that they have to go through to bring in those categories into the country. It will save them several weeks."
The announcement was made first in Edmonton - where Alberta's booming oilpatch has drawn workers from many other sectors, creating huge labour shortages - and then in Vancouver.
The program is limited to British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The federal government in July announced a "temporary work unit program," but the latest initiative goes further, said Solberg. "It was important but it didn't go anywhere near far enough toward solving some of our labour market woes."
Companies trying to find workers for those jobs will no longer have to advertise as extensively for Canadians to convince the federal government of their need.
The government's new program will dramatically cut the length of time to process an employer's application for workers. That timeline currently runs from 13 to 17 weeks.
Although Solberg never mentioned it, Saskatchewan is also included in the announcement.
In Regina, Pat Atkinson, the minister of advanced education and employment, said she spoke to Solberg's office and was told the province is in.
"I've been assured that employers in our province can already start to make use of the temporary foreign workers guide, which is going to help them cut through red tape."
She said while B.C. and Alberta have developed a list of "occupations under pressure," her province was working on it.
