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03/31/2004 Entry: "Canada Eases Entry rules; Shortage of skilled workers feared"
According to the Toronto Star, Canada eased Entry rules due to Shortage of skilled workers. On Sept. 18, 2003, Canada lowered the pass mark to 67, down from 75. Read below the full article.
Entry rules eased Shortage of skilled workers feared Ottawa faced huge drop in applicants
TORONTO STAR - BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH - OTTAWA BUREAU OTTAWA-Ottawa was forced to relax its stringent entry requirements for
immigrants last September because the flow of skilled workers into the
country had slowed dramatically, federal documents show.
Then-immigration minister Denis Coderre billed the surprise change as "a
response to Canada's need for skilled workers." But that vague wording
understated the potential crisis taking shape behind the scenes at the
immigration department last year, according to documents obtained under the
Access to Information Act.
In June, 2002, the department unveiled a new, stricter point system to
measure the talents of skilled workers hoping to come to Canada. Yet
according to internal memos and e-mails, the controversial new assessment -
which measures an immigrant's language abilities, job skills and education -
was turning away many of the workers needed to keep Canada's economy
humming.
Coderre was warned last summer that without a significant change to the
selection process for skilled workers there would be a "dramatic reduction"
in the number coming to Canada this year, according to an e-mail between
top-level bureaucrats.
In the 12 months after the new point system took effect, from June, 2002 to
June, 2003, less than 50,000 skilled workers applied in missions abroad, the
e-mail said. That's a sharp drop from the 128,788 files created in 2001 and
113,134 in 2000.
The note goes on to say that the vast majority of people from countries that
have traditionally helped Canada meet its labour needs were unable to meet
the new benchmark.
Last summer, officials were predicting 80,000 skilled workers would come to
Canada - about 43,000 below the target. In August, Coderre was told
"corrective measures" were needed to meet the target.
A number of options were considered but lowering the pass mark was seen as
the only way the department was going to meet its targets. On Sept. 18,
Coderre lowered the pass mark to 67, down from 75.
The change seems to have worked - in the final months of 2003, applications
from skilled workers jumped 25 per cent.
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