[Nettime-bold] Canada and immigrants (fwd)

[Patrice Riemens <patrice@xs4all.nl>]

Meanwhile, in Strasbourg...


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goanet-digest         Saturday, July 20 2002         Volume 01 : Number 4170



Date: Sat, 20 Jul 2002 09:23:09 -0700
From: "John D'souza" <jjds@ican.net>
Subject: [Goanet] Canada - Immigrants needed to fill jobs and pay taxes !

Toronto Star Editorial
Jul. 19, 2002.

Knock down barriers to immigration

There's good reason for Canada to lay out the welcome mat for the Italian
tradesman, the doctor from India and other skilled workers from abroad.

They're needed to fill jobs and pay taxes.

This week, Statistics Canada laid out the hard facts of Canada's
demographic crunch — the birth rate is tumbling just as the baby boomers
are getting ready to retire.

The result? By 2020, a million jobs in Canada could go unfilled. That has
big implications for government revenues, for businesses looking for
employees and even retirees who will rely on the new crop of young workers
to fund the health-care system and government pension plans.

In response, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien acknowledged the country needs
more immigrants to address the problem of an aging population.

But if Chrétien truly wonders why the country has consistently fallen
short of its immigration targets, he need look no further than the
policies and actions of his own government.

For starters, Ottawa's new system for selecting immigrants still sets the
bar too high, essentially closing the door to many skilled workers such as
welders, tool and die makers, medical therapists and nurses. Those lucky
enough to get into the country face a maddening mix of red tape,
government indifference and even racism in their efforts to become
integrated into Canadian life.

If immigrants are to be part of the solution to the looming labour
shortage, those roadblocks have to be knocked down. Ottawa must rewrite
the rules to recognize this country needs more than the immigrants holding
Ph.D.s and computer degrees but those with basic skills, too.

The federal government needs to do a better job of looking after
immigrants once they get here, instead of sticking cash-strapped cities
like Toronto with that job.

Governments, regulatory bodies and educational institutions all need to
remove the barriers that unfairly bar qualified immigrants from doing
their old jobs in their new country. It makes no sense to leave immigrants
sitting on the sidelines when their skills could be put to good use.

The latest census numbers should be a wake-up call to those who even
question the wisdom of an immigration policy, to those who espouse the
falsehood that immigrants are robbing "Canadians" of jobs.

Fact is, there won't be enough skilled workers to fill the jobs in the
coming years. Newcomers should be welcomed for their diversity and their
contributions to the economy.

Without them, Canada's economic future looks bleak. The proof is in the
numbers.

Posted by JJD'S

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