Asians have the least desire to migrate

About 45 million people would like to move to Canada and make a new life here, a global poll on migration desires showed.

Those yearning for Canada are among 16% of the world’s adults or roughly 700 million people who would like to move to another country permanently if they could, according the latest Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index.

The Gallup poll conducted in 135 countries between 2007 and 2009, concludes that if all adults actually moved to their desired destination country today, some countries would suffer tremendous losses and others would be overwhelmed.

The poll also shows that the global economic recession has not curbed the desire of the world’s poor to seek a better future by migrating, Gallup Inc. said.

The top tier of most desired destinations was led by the United States, with about 165 million people, followed by Canada (45 million), United Kingdom (45 million), France (45 million), Spain (35 million), Saudi Arabia (30 million), Germany (30 million) and Australia (25 million).

The second tier includes countries chosen by 1 million to 5 million as their most-desired migration destinations. Some countries included in this tier are China, Indonesia, India and Mexico.
The last group – where fewer than 500,000 marked as their most-desired migration destinations – includes Vietnam, the Philippines and Bangladesh, among others.

The report said that implications of hundreds of millions of people harboring desires to migrate are on government leaders in both countries of origin and destination to develop immigration policies and development strategies.

“If all adults who desire to move to another country permanently actually moved to their desired destination country today, some countries would suffer tremendous losses in human capital and others would be overwhelmed,” the report said.

“In most countries, people’s desire to relocate did not decrease meaningfully after the global economic crisis hit in 2008,” said Neli Esipova, the polling agency’s director of research for global migration.

Almost eight of ten respondents who said they would like to emigrate were in a developing country, the poll showed. The vast majority of the latter said they would like to live in a developed country.

If all the would-be migrants acted on their desire, some rich countries would see their population swell and some poor ones would be depleted, Gallup said.

The population of Singapore would more than triple and the population of Saudi Arabia, New Zealand and Canada would swell by 180, 175 and 170 percent respectively, according to the poll.

Countries like Sierra Leone, Haiti and El Salvador would lose about half their population, according to the poll.
“But reality does not match desires,” Esipova said.

Migrants’ theoretical wishes often come up against barriers such as visa requirements which force them to move to countries that are not their first choice.

Gallup’s Potential Net Migration Index is the number of adults who want to move out of a country subtracted from the number who would like to move to it.

Countries with a higher Potential Net Migration Index have high potential population gains. At the top of this list is Singapore (+260 percent), while the Democratic Republic of the Congo posts the highest negative PNMI (-60 percent).

Of the 700 million that would like to move to another country, Gallup found that citizens of sub-Saharan African countries have the highest desire to do so. About 165 million people, or 38 percent of the population, said they’d migrate internationally if the opportunity arose.

On the flip side, people living in Asian countries have the least desire to migrate internationally. Only 10 percent of the population said they would like to move permanently to another country.
Interestingly, the United States, which is the top desired destination among all potential migrants, does not make the top five in terms of potential net population growth.

The United States’ net migration value of +60% places it farther down the list, after Canada and several other developed nations that dominate the top of the list.

Developing countries, in contrast, dominate the bottom of the list. The countries with the highest negative Potential Net Migration Index values are the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) (-60%), Sierra Leone (-55%), and Zimbabwe (-55%), Haiti (-50%), and El Salvador (-50%).

While Gallup’s findings reflect people’s aspirations rather than their intentions, the implications of what could happen if hypothetical desires became reality are serious considerations for leaders to think about as they plan development and migration strategies now and in the future.

Gallup plans to continue to monitor trends in desired migration, and will publish an updated index that includes more countries in early 2010.

Where migrants want to go to Countries with highest PNMI*

1. Singapore (+260 per cent)
2. Saudi Arabia (+180 per cent)
3. New Zealand (+175 per cent)
4. Canada (+170 per cent)
5. Australia (+145 per cent)

* The PNMI is the estimated number of adults who wish to leave a country permanently subtracted from the estimated number who wish to immigrate to the country, as a proportion of the total adult population.

Top destinations (by country)

1. United States
2. Canada
3. Britain
4. France
5. Spain

Top sources of potential migrants (by region)

1. Sub-Saharan Africa
2. Middle East and North Africa
3. Europe
4. Americas
5. Asia

And, the more such photos appear, I feel more connected to the Games each day. :)

The men's eight Olympic gold medalists carry the Olympic Flame on their boat during the Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria, B.C., Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled from Olympia in Athens will now start a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Men's eight Olympic gold medalist teammate Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., right, passes on the Olympic Flame to the coxsain of the junior team during the Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria, B.C., Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled from Olympia in Athens will now start a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Surfer Raph Bruhwiler, right, falls as he receives the Olympic flame from surfer Ruth Sadler (centre), 72, after she walked into the Pacific Ocean to meet him during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games torch relay in Pacific Rim National Park near Tofino, B.C., on Sunday November 1, 2009. Bruhwiler then surfed to shore. (CP)

Ruth Sadler, left, hands off the Olympic Torch to Raph Bruhwiler as he surfs at Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park located near Tofino, B.C., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Percy Williams is seen in a Haida canoe as he arrives to a blessing ceremony in Skidegate, B.C. Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Martha Benjamin carries the Olympic Flame on a dogsled in Old Crow, Yukon, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Erika Tizya-Tramm, hugs Allan Benjamin after she passed the Olympic Flame on to him in Old Crow, Yukon, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Annika Trimble, left, passes the Olympic Flame off to Mark Lee Orbell who is traveling in a snow grooming machine in Inuvik, NWT, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which traveled from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

A man wears Olympic mittens as he photographs the Olympic countdown clock displaying 100 days until the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 4, 2009. (CP)

2010 Olympic torch relay warms up frigid Yukon village

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OLD CROW, Yukon – The 2010 Olympic torch warmed up this frigid Arctic community Wednesday as it was carried into a town celebration on a dogsled.

Residents of the Yukon village north of the Arctic Circle waved and smiled as the Olympic flame was carried off the plane into the -36C winter air.

Relay organizers were bundled into a sled pulled by snowmobiles as they travelled into Old Crow to prepare for the community celebration.

Meanwhile, the flame was transported by four torchbearers. Two of them ran with the flame, before passing it off to a torchbearer on snowshoe.

At one point, the flame went out when the fuel cannister ran dry. Relay organizers have discovered the flame can burn only about half as long in the extreme cold.

The torch was re-lit with the original flame, which is carried in a specially made miner’s lantern along the relay route, and the run proceeded.

The flame was then zipped into town by another torchbearer, Martha Benjamin, a 1964 Canadian cross-country ski champion.

She was on a dogsled pulled by a team of yelping, barking dogs that charged past several historic buildings on the picturesque route toward a community feast and aboriginal blessing ceremony.

The torch relay is taking the 2010 Olympic flame to some of the most extreme places in Canada during its trip to the North, including a stop Sunday in Alert, the northernmost inhabited community on the planet.

Earlier Wednesday, the torch was taken through Dawson City, where Australian ski champion Alisa Camplin carried it.

Camplin made history in 2002 when she became Australia’s first female Olympic Winter Games gold medalist. She won for aerials at the Salt Lake City Games, then won bronze in the same event in Turin in 2006.

Camplin is one of 15 international torchbearers in the 106-day relay.

REBGV release – Strong demand has led to a steady rise in Greater Vancouver home prices compared to last year.

Over the last 12 months, the MLSLink® Housing Price Index (HPI) benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 6.8% to $553,702 from $518,668 in October 2008.

“While home prices have been rising in 2009, they have not eclipsed the peaks reached in early 2008,” Scott Russell, Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) president said. “We’re coming off several months of unseasonably high sales levels, which has allowed for a gradual increase in home values this year,”

The REBGV reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 3,704 in October 2009, an increase of 4.1% from the 3,559 sales recorded in September 2009, and an increase of 171.6% compared to October 2008 when 1,364 sales were recorded. Looking back two years, last month’s sales increased 22.3% compared to October 2007 when 3,028 sales were recorded.

“High confidence and low mortgage rates are continuing to drive the activity we’re seeing in the housing market today,” Russell said.

New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Greater Vancouver totalled 4,977 in October 2009. This represents a 2.3% increase compared to October 2008 when 4,867 new units were listed, and a 13.4% decline compared to September 2009 when 5,764 properties were listed on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in Greater Vancouver.

At 12,084, the total number of property listings on the MLS® decreased 4.1% in October compared to last month and declined 37% from this time last year.

Sales of detached properties increased 201.6% to 1,487 from the 493 detached sales recorded during the same period in 2008. The benchmark price, as calculated by the MLSLink Housing Price Index®, for detached properties increased 7.7% from October 2008 to $749,808.

Sales of apartment properties in October 2009 increased 148.4% to 1,607, compared to 647sales in October 2008. The benchmark price of an apartment property increased 6.3% from October 2008 to $380,975.

Attached property sales in October 2009 are up 172.3% to 610, compared with the 224 sales in October 2008. The benchmark price of an attached unit increased 4.6% between Octobers 2008 and 2009 to $468,798.

To clearly stand out a guest blogger entry, all such headlines will begin with [GB].

A recent book against Asian immigrants published by the right-wing research organization, the Fraser Institute, has raised concerns among the general public, to such a point that federal Immigration minister Jason Kenney had to draw a line publicly to distance his government from the writer who was an MP of the Reform Party.

What the Chinese media is concerned about is that not only has the book denied the contribution of immigrants, but that the publisher of the book is the Fraser Institute. This research institute has a great influence on today’s Canada and on the B.C. government. Whether it’s the Conservative Party’s environmental policy or B.C.’s HST, there is a connection with the institute. The think tank also has a strong presence in the media, e.g. the editor responsible for the major English newspaper’s editorial and opinion pages used to work at the institute.

The Fraser Institute’s anti-immigration stand is nothing new, but the stand was not given a high profile in the past. What this book says, however, is that immigration does no good to our economic development: it is a burden to our society, and would increase government expenses and lead to a hike in taxes. The book also claims immigrants have lowered the living standard of Canada and have a negative effect on the sovereignty, culture and social structure of the country.

The timing of the publication of the book reflects the institute’s tactic to get maximum effect. The book is published at a time of worsening economic downturn, when people worry about job loss and taxpayers are concerned about government raising taxes. The purpose of the book is to attack Canada’s immigration policy and to defame immigrants.

Nevertheless, immigration is not the only target of the Fraser Institute. The right-wing think tank also hosted movie screenings and invited oversea speakers to challenge the consensus of the world’s top scientists that the human factor contributes to climate change.

The Fraser Institute’s action denying climate change and its stout defence of the oil industry’s interest are being criticized by local scholars and the independent media. It has been revealed that big oil companies have handed out millions of dollars to North American right-wing think tanks, which include the Fraser Institute.

Likewise, when the Campbell government was under immense pressure because of the HST, the Fraser Institute stood up, together with representatives of big corporations, to support the new tax.

If one examines the so-called “research” of the right-wing think tank, one will see that it’s all about the interests of big businesses.

I once read a Fraser Institute report comparing the health care systems of Canada and other countries. It was quite biased and figures were manipulated in order to produce the desired result. The Fraser Institute has long been advocating privatizing Canada’s health care and bringing in American big private medical corporations. Again, this is to serve the interests of big businesses.

Last year the Fraser Institute released a report attacking public auto insurance. On its press release, it said: “Independent study after independent study come to the same conclusion: public auto insurance is more expensive on average than competitive, private models, despite contrary claims by government auto insurers.” It sounds so authoritative, but is it true? Well, if one goes to the website of the Canadian Consumers’ Association (http://www.consumer.ca/1525), one will find that the independent organization has done many studies on this same topic, which include a very comprehensive study comparing over 7,000 auto insurance quotes from 40 cities in 10 provinces. The conclusion of all these studies is this: “Public auto insurance systems offer the lowest rates for consumers.”

The Fraser Institute’s so-called “study” not only found a contrary conclusion, it also totally neglected all the studies conducted by the Canadian Consumers’ Association.

So who is more trustworthy? Who is working for the interest of the public and who is serving big business. I will leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusion.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed by guest bloggers are theirs and may not represent those of CIV.

By inviting guest bloggers to write here, I’d like to see us grow together with more diverse ideas and perspectives. If anyone believe the idea is cool, please don’t hesitate to submit your stuff to me. We use real names and identities here. Thank you.

To clearly stand out a guest blogger entry, all such headlines will begin with [GB].

The recent visit of the Taiwanese academic and public intellectual, Professor Lung Ying-tai, created quite a splash in the immigrant communities from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her two public lectures at UBC were delivered to a full house. The thousand or so seats in the Chan Centre were not only filled, late comers had to stand at the foyer to watch the video of her talk. The audience was touched by the sad stories of ordinary Chinese people in the year 1949 when the Communist took over China and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan.

Lung said her latest book, “Big River, Big Sea–Untold Stories of 1949″, was dedicated to the people who were trashed, abused and wounded during that time.

As I left the Chan Centre concert hall, I couldn’t stop thinking about 2009. Who would care for the little people being trashed and abused in our era?

1949 was the year of political, social and economic changes.

Although history has shown that communism has failed, in 2009 we have seen great chaos brought about by capitalism. The problem is getting worse and it’s global in scale.

In the past, “evil” was generated by hatred, religion, the differences in political systems and the struggle for power. Today, “evil” comes from greed and wealth.

When war is waged against a country, and innocent civilians become casualties and communities devastated, the ulterior motives behind it are the interests of the weapon and oil industries.

Earlier, the United Nations released a report on the living condition of our world. Over 1 billion people are starving. The problem of the gap between the rich and the poor no longer exists between countries, nor between developed and developing countries. The problem is getting worse everywhere, in every country, be it Canada, US, China or Hong Kong. The wealth of the rich is expanding, the burden of the middle class is increasing, while the number of those with low income is swelling and their living condition worsening.

Today, hard working people in North America may not earn enough to feed the family. Wages in China and India are cheap, so “low skill jobs” are being exported to these countries and abandoned at home. The frightening fact is, even high skilled jobs are also being exported (the most advanced computers and mobile phones are now manufactured in China) while the workers in local jobs that cannot be exported are being exploited. The workers on the phone who answer our technical enquiries on the latest high tech devices are technicians in India. Rather than buying from North American shipyards, the B.C. government had our ferries built in Germany.

Earlier, I watched an interview with a renowned Hong Kong social worker. He talked about the suffering of the working people. Some workers had dedicated over 30 years of their life to an industry that was being moved to China. At an age close to retirement, how could these people upgrade themselves and find a new job and a new way to live? Are these people responsible for their situation and their suffering? Do they deserve their miserable fate?

Under the banner of globalization, big businesses move their plants and jobs to developing countries in the name of maximizing efficiency and profitability. The model of lower wages and a disregard for environmental responsibilities has indeed given big corporations more profits and consumers cheaper merchandise. But the increased consumption, energy depletion and environmental pollution are not good for our planet at all.

When a society blindly follows globalization and the so-called “free economy” and “free market” and exports its industries and jobs to other countries, does that serve its national interest and confer benefit on its people in the long run? Or does it just serve the interests of international big businesses? When a country’s many industries and employments become hollow, what is there on the other side of the equation to balance the huge deficit of social and human resources? How many sad stories of ordinary people are there waiting to be told?

In today’s capitalistic world, honest hard working people have little future whereas cheaters, exploiters and speculators amass riches. The recent financial tsunami has shown that the entire Wall Street, with its banks, insurance, accounting and audits, risk and credit assessments and monitoring, is collectively responsible for the subprime mortgage fraud. The question remains: who pocketed the money and who is going to fill the hole?

In order to protect its own interest, the cigarette industry had an elaborate mechanism to bribe politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, media, think tanks and business organizations to deny and challenge the notion that cigarette are harmful to health. Today, there are 6 million deaths every year resulting from smoking cigarettes.

Although the evil of cigarettes is finally exposed, the tactics of the cigarette industry are now deployed by the oil industry in order to deny and challenge the notion of climate change, even when the world’s top scientists have concluded that climate change is man-made. But in order to protect its own interest and wealth generation, the oil industry does not stop from trying every means to deceive the world and to block the world effort to tackle climate change.

Whether it’s the private health care industry fighting to break into Canada, or its desperate and despicable efforts to stop public medicare in the US, behind their contradicting logic, lies and high-sounding slogans lies the motif of big money.

The mechanism of political donation, media manipulation, collaboration of think tanks and business organizations runs slickly in today’s world. The resulting scenario played out day after day is like this: earning big money requires paying little tax; market is monopolized with regulations removed; public resources are given away to private enterprises; business taipans collude with politicians; labour is exploited; the environment is polluted; hate is ignited to become war; benefits are transferred back and forth from government to business; and so on and so forth.

What I’m trying to say is this: it is clear that capitalism has many faults and weaknesses. There is a need today to re-examine it and reform it. To give one example, protectionism is widely seen as a bad thing. However, if North America does not have a tariff mechanism to protect its auto industry, there won’t be any Japanese auto plants in the US and Canada. Whether it was the former Japan or today’s China, their economic foundations are built not by free market or free economy, but by planned economy and protectionism. The point is not difficult to comprehend. The problem is that the public has been brained-washed by the corporate media and right-wing think tanks.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed by guest bloggers are theirs and may not represent those of CIV.

By inviting guest bloggers to write here, I’d like to see us grow together with more diverse ideas and perspectives. If anyone believe the idea is cool, please don’t hesitate to submit your stuff to me. We use real names and identities here. Thank you.

Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser tables the 2009 Fall Report in Ottawa, Ont., Tuesday November 3, 2009. (CP)

Auditor general Sheila Fraser opened fire against the gov’s immigration reform today (full OAG report). While CIC has said that it has cleared 30% of backlog within a year, Fraser says the drop was only 6.5%. Whose accounting should we trust?

Reforms to fast track skilled immigrants a bust so far: auditor general

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA – Vaunted reforms to fast track skilled immigrants and quickly plug gaps in Canada’s labour force have not lived up to advance billing, says Auditor General Sheila Fraser.

When the Harper government introduced the controversial reforms in 2008, it argued they were necessary to eliminate the backlog of more than 600,000 skilled-worker applications and reduce wait times of up to seven years.

But in her latest report, Fraser says the changes have done little to cut the number of new applications pouring in or put a dent in the backlog.

“While it is too early to assess their full impact, the trends in the number of new applications received since the beginning of 2009 indicate they might not have the desired effect,” Fraser says.

Indeed, she questions why the reforms – which give the immigration minister controversial power to pick and choose which categories of skilled immigrants will be fast tracked or turned away – were implemented in the first place.

Immigration officials were unable to provide auditors with evidence of any analysis explaining why the number of admissible occupations was reduced to 38 from 351, how they figured that would reduce the number of new applications or what the potential impact and risks might be.

The measures “were implemented without sufficient analysis,” Fraser concludes.

At the time, opposition critics predicted the reforms would do little other than empower the minister to “cherry pick” favoured immigrants from the queue.

New Democrat immigration critic Olivia Chow said Fraser’s report proves the opposition was right

“We knew the changes to the Immigration Act last year were not going to work,” Chow said. “We said so. Almost every immigration lawyer or academic said that it is the wrong direction.”

In the year since the reforms went into effect, Fraser says the queue has shrunk by only 6.5 per cent and even that reduction was due to the fact the government refused to accept new applications for a period last year.

If the government doesn’t soon start to see better results, Fraser urges it to “react quickly and consider alternative strategies.”

“Failure to do so could result in the creation of a new inventory of applications . . . and the department would be unable to process new applications within the six to 12 months it has forecast.”

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney respectfully disagreed with Fraser’s conclusions. He maintained the reforms have resulted in new applications being processed in only six months and a 30-per-cent reduction in the backlog of applications received prior to the reforms.

“To go from a six-year wait to a six-month wait is a huge improvement,” he said.

Nevertheless, he “took note” of Fraser’s concerns and acknowledged that some “adjustments” might have to be made.

Although touted as a way to ensure labour market needs are met quickly, Fraser says the immigration department has no process or mechanism to ensure its list of in-demand occupations is up-to-date.

As part of the effort to streamline the process, the government set up a centralized intake office for skilled worker applications in Sydney, N.S. It was to receive and pre-screen initial applications, collect processing fees and forward eligible applications to Canadian missions abroad for more detailed processing.

Fraser questions the relevance of the centralized office given that most applications so far have wound up being forwarded to missions abroad for processing.

Moreover, she says the office has encountered “many problems in managing application fees” since it accepts payments in Canadian currency only.

“A number of applicants did not have access to Canadian funds in their countries. In addition, the (centralized intake office) was unable to reimburse applicants in eight countries where cheques issued by the Canadian government were not accepted.”

Fraser’s annual audit also looked at the temporary foreign worker program and found, as other studies have done before, that it is open to abuse.

There is no systematic assessment to ensure the jobs being offered are genuine or that employers live up to their commitments to provide adequate wages and accommodations, Fraser says.

“The issues . . . pose significant risks to the integrity of the program and could leave many foreign workers in a vulnerable position, particularly those who are physically or linguistically isolated from the general community or are unaware of their rights.”

Chow said Fraser’s conclusions show it’s “open season” on live-in caregivers and other temporary foreign workers.

However, Fraser acknowledged at a news conference that the government has already taken some steps to redress the problems, introducing reforms shortly after her audit was completed.

Kenney said the changes include more stringent monitoring of job offers and employment conditions and harsher penalties against employers who abuse either the system or their workers.

Despite the problems, he said the temporary worker program is “essential to keep our economy growing.”

“There are tens of thousands of employers who tell me that they would go out of business if they couldn’t find people to fill those jobs.”

Here’s the government’s press release of last week.

Government of Canada Tables 2010 Immigration Plan

Ottawa, October 30, 2009 — Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, tabled Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s 2009 Annual Report today in Parliament.

“While other countries have cut back immigration levels as a short-term response to the global economic downturn, our government is actually maintaining its immigration levels to meet the country’s medium- to long-term economic needs,” said Minister Kenney.

“Canada plans to welcome between 240,000 and 265,000 new permanent residents in 2010, the same number of immigrants as in recent years. In 2010, Canada will again welcome more new permanent residents than the average annual intake during the 1990s,” said Minister Kenney. “The focus of the 2010 plan is on economic immigration to support Canada’s economy during and beyond the current economic recovery.”

In particular, the admission ranges for immigrants nominated by the provinces and territories have been increased. Provinces and territories are in the best position to understand how Canada’s immigration intake can be aligned to their labour market needs. Second, by increasing the admission ranges in the Provincial Nominee Program, the Government of Canada is helping to ensure that the benefits of immigration are distributed across this country. Canada and the provinces will work together to manage growth in the provincial nominee program. Increasing the total number of immigrants processed under the economic category will also allow CIC to continue reducing the backlog of federal skilled worker applicants as part of the Action Plan for Faster Immigration.

Although the Action Plan has been in place for less than a year, early indications are that it is paying off. “People applying now under the federal skilled worker program can expect to receive a decision within six to twelve months, compared to up to six years under the old system,” said Minister Kenney. “We’ve also brought the backlog of federal skilled worker applicants down from over 630,000 to 425,000—a reduction of more than 30%.”

The backlog consists of people who applied before February 27, 2008, the date the Action Plan took effect. Since then, almost 240,000 people have applied to the new federal skilled worker program under the Action Plan. But even with those additional applicants, the total number of people currently awaiting a decision on their application is still 12% lower than when the Action Plan took effect.

“Before we changed the system, we had to process every application received. Since many more people applied every year than could be accepted, a backlog was created,” said Minister Kenney. “Now that we are processing only those applications that meet specified criteria, our Government is making significant progress in reducing the backlog.”

Improving the federal skilled worker program is part of the Government of Canada’s overall commitment to modernizing the immigration system to maximize its contribution to our overall economic growth.

“The Government of Canada will continue to work with provinces, territories and stakeholders to make sure immigration meets the needs of communities, employers and families now and in the future,” concluded the Minister.