The federal government has recently announced changes in its temporary Foreign Worker Program to cope with the demand from employers to meet labour shortages.

Monte Solberg, minister of human resources and social development, said the Advantage Canada strategy will “make it faster and easier for Canadian employers to meet their labour force needs. Employers who have exhausted their search for Canadian workers often need to hire temporary foreign workers to work for a period of longer than a year.”

The changes, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley said, will reduce the time employers have to wait to get workers they need. “Extending the time that workers can stay in Canada provides more security and stability to the workers and to the employers.”

These measures are a good first step in dealing with some of the issues faced by small business, said Catherine Swift of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Competition is building among countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain to attract skilled immigrants to meet their workforce needs.

Speakers at a recent conference in Ahmedabad on global resettlement opportunities said because of Canada’s knowledge-based economy, selection criteria have been established to attract more highly skilled workers, plus those with a broader range of skills as independent immigrants.

Conference participants pointed out what many in Canada already know is that this country needs immigrants to respond to such demographic factors as low birthrate and an aging population. Canada, delegates were told, has opened its door to attract hundreds of thousands of skilled workers from abroad to make up its labour force shortfall. The government has adjusted its immigration targets and parameters for acceptance are being changed in order to meet this increase.

But Canada is certainly not alone in seeking skilled immigrants. Other developed countries face the same or even more severe declines in workforce growth. Australia and the United Kingdom, for instance, are also becoming increasingly aggressive in seeking skilled immigrants, conference speakers said.