Reaction in B.C. is pouring in on the announcement that Canada will reduce the number of new permanent residents to the country by 21 per cent by next year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Immigration Minister Marc Miller announced the initiative on Thursday, which is part of a major series of changes to immigration targets that Trudeau says aims to freeze population growth.
Jasroop Gosal, Surrey Board of Trade’s interim spokesperson and policy and research manager, said they are disappointed this change has happened.
“Last year, we, our business community, we were given numbers of 500,000 over the next couple of years and businesses, they prepared for that eventuality,” he told Global News.
“And now to have government come and change their immigration policy one year later, not even one year later, it is really interfering with their ability to plan for growth and stability.”
Gosal said that immigrants come to Canada and B.C. because they see there is a need to fill jobs and support industries.
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“Businesses have been telling us for years now that there is a labour shortage,” he said.
“There is a mismatch between the skills available in our current labour market and the skills that they need in the jobs that are open and that can be filled through immigration. And we believe that this is not the right time. It’s not the right way to roll out these kinds of extraordinary changes.”
Migrant rights groups have said the move “scapegoats” immigrants.
“The government’s decision to cut permanent resident levels is a shameful capitulation to rising anti-immigrant sentiment in a desperate bid to regain political favour. These changes will force migrants into temporary or undocumented status, where they will be vulnerable to even greater exploitation and abuse,” Syed Hussan, spokesperson for the Migrant Rights Network, said.
Hussan said reducing the number of permanent residents would leave fewer pathways to residency for vulnerable migrants.
Gosal said this change signals to the rest of the world that Canada does not have the right policies in place, which could scare off foreign investors who want to come to B.C.
“We need to make sure that we are reskilling and upskilling the workforce and ensuring that we are creating a system and a tax environment and regulatory environment that will allow these manufacturers, these job creators, to stay in Canada, to stay in B.C., and specifically stay in Surrey,” he added.
— with files from Uday Rana
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