Law Times

Law TiMes • March 3, 2014 Page 11 www.lawtimesnews.com Government seeks more provincial nominees Ontario pushing to raise cap to 5,000 to match other provinces bservers say Ontario's provincial nominee program is ready to take off as a govern- mental lobbying boost coincides with a more restrictive temporary foreign worker regime. e province renewed its call in February for the federal gov- ernment to quadruple Ontario's allocation to 5,000 nominees from 1,300 in order to match provinces such as Alberta, Man- itoba, and Saskatchewan. ose provinces are among the heavi- est users of the program. At the same time, employ- ers are looking for alternatives aer reforms introduced last year tightened up the tempo- rary foreign worker program, according to Manjit Singh, an immigration lawyer in Toronto with Cambridge LLP. "Ontario's [provincial nomi- nee program] is a great program, and I think it's natural that more people are going to be looking into it now," says Singh. "It'll be interesting to see what kind of burden it places on them and whether they get a higher cap. is is the nature of a regu- latory regime like immigration. When you make a tweak in one area, it has an effect. en you get a response to that effect in another area." Brenda Wong, a co-founding partner with Toronto's Business Immigration Law Group, says the difficulty of obtaining a la- bour market opinion has many employers scrambling for a way around the issue. Ontario's pro- gram is a popular alternative destination, she says. Labour market opinions "are being used as a last resort now. Offices are getting very picky about the advertising require- ments, and people just want to avoid them at all costs. e re- quirements are not as strict for the [provincial nominee pro- gram]," says Wong. Wong says employers also like the absence of any language re- quirements in Ontario's program. "For certain people, they just wouldn't have had the ability to get permanent residence through the federal programs, which have stricter language requirements for English or French. ere are some IT jobs where applicants may not have a strong enough language ability to pass a strict test, but it doesn't mean they can't function in their job and it doesn't mean they won't be able to estab- lish themselves in the province," says Wong. On the downside, Ontario's program can be quite expensive with fees of $2,000 for applicants in the Greater Toronto Area and $1,500 outside that region. Wong says the extra cost isn't al- ways worth it for employers. FOCUS THE MOST COMPLETE DIRECTORY OF ONTARIO LAWYERS, LAW FIRMS, JUDGES AND COURTS With more than 1,400 pages of essential legal references, Ontario Lawyer's Phone Book is your best connection to legal services in Ontario. Subscribers can depend on the credibility, accuracy and currency of this directory year after year. 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Some employers are also hesitant because once the em- ployee has permanent residence, they're essentially a free agent who can work for anyone else," she says. Started in 1998, the provincial nominee pro- gram aims to give provinces a way to react to re- gional economic needs by fast-tracking candidates with specific skills. Ontario was late to the game. It launched its own program in 2007 with a pilot that allowed 500 nominees a year. In 2009, the pilot became permanent, but at 1,300, the cap for 2013 represented about one per cent of the more than 100,000 immigrants arriving in Ontario each year. It's also just a fraction of the 47,000 immi- grants Citizenship and Immigration Canada plans to admit under the program across the country in 2014. Opportunities Ontario, which runs the pro- gram in the province, reported that the cap for last year kicked in by September. Last month, the province called for the limit to move up to 5,000 as part of a revamp of its immigration program. "We are going to introduce legislation that would lay the necessary foundation for us to operate a larger and more robust immigration program in Ontario, now and in the future," said Michael Coteau, Ontario's minister of citizenship immigration, in a statement. Wong says a higher cap makes it more likely she'll pitch the program as an option to clients. She admits she's sometimes reticent to sell the idea to potential participants. "You don't want to get someone interested in the program only to find out it's full before they can even apply. at's the fear now. Anyone I'm going to help this calendar year, unless they file by May, I won't even suggest it unless the numbers are in- creased. It's not necessarily ideal when Alberta is getting 5,000." Henry Chang, a partner at Blaney McMurtry LLP and co-chairman of its international trade and business group, hopes Opportunities Ontario's planned redesign will include an improved inves- tor stream option for entrepreneurs to establish or buy small businesses in the province. "e Ontario [provincial nominee program] still has an investor stream that is not appropriate to such applicants," he says. "It requires a significant investment and is de- signed for larger multinational companies that are setting up opera- tions here. Of course, not all [provincial nominee] programs offer entrepreneur streams, so it may be that Ontario does not see value in attracting such applicants. However, I personally think that such a program could benefit Ontario." LT BY mIcHAel mcKIeRNAN For Law Times O Employers are looking for alternatives fol- lowing reforms to the temporary foreign worker program, says Manjit Singh.

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