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‘Don’t make us pay’: Northern Ontario mayors say immigration cuts are hurting their cities

‘Don’t make us pay’: Northern Ontario mayors say immigration cuts are hurting their cities

The five-year program aimed to attract immigrants to smaller communities across Canada, including five cities in northern Ontario, and offered thousands of newcomers a path to permanent residency.

In March, the federal Liberal government promised to create a permanent rural immigration program while announcing its intention to launch two other pilot projects this fall targeting rural and francophone communities.

But months later, Ottawa announced it would reduce its permanent resident immigration target and significantly reduce the number of temporary residents in the country to ease growing pressures on housing, health care and other services.

The government aimed to welcome 500,000 new permanent residents in 2025 and 2026. Next year’s target will instead be 395,000 new permanent residents, and this figure will drop to 380,000 in 2026 and 365,000 in 2027.

Ottawa also aims to reduce the number of temporary residents – which includes temporary foreign workers and international students – by 445,901 in 2025.

Shoemaker said these changes are aimed at mitigating the effects of high population growth in major cities, but immigration is key to Sault Ste.’s growth. Marie “because otherwise our mortality rate exceeds that of our new births”, which leads to a reduction in the population and the municipal tax base.

“There is no one-size-fits-all solution,” he said of the policy change.

Shoemaker said more than 1,000 people have been resettled in the city in recent years through the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot Project and those immigrants have helped the local population grow for the first time in 25 years, to reach around 78,500 people in 2024.

“In the 25 years leading up to 2024, our population has declined by every measure,” he said. “(The program) has allowed us to turn things around in terms of population size. »

He said the federal government should recognize that the needs of cities in Northern Ontario are different from those in Southern Ontario.

“Don’t make us pay for the affordability crisis that has been created in southern Ontario, because we can help continue to grow the population and contribute prosperously to the Canadian economy,” he said. he declared.

Thunder Bay Mayor Ken Boshcoff said he shares the same concerns about the federal government’s shift on immigration.

“We have a lot of space and a lot of jobs because the mining industry is really booming,” he said. “The community itself, both educationally and as a regional center, is also doing very well. »

He said Thunder Bay is working to build more housing as quickly as possible and provide adequate recreational activities to attract more immigrants and entice them to stay.

“We could use as many new immigrants as the federal government allows us,” Boshcoff said.

Sudbury Mayor Paul Lefebvre said 1,400 skilled immigrants arrived in the city during the pilot program, some of whom brought family members, for a total of 2,700 new residents.

“We’re asking (the federal government) to reopen the program … as soon as possible because we have a lot of opportunity, a lot of jobs waiting to be filled,” he said. “We have housing and we are able to accommodate them and certainly welcome them into our communities.”

He said the local mining industry is looking for engineers, welders and mechanics, while the health and education sectors are also looking for skilled workers.

Natalie Parent, director of human resources at Pioneer Construction Inc., which is based in Sudbury and also operates in other northern Ontario cities, said the large civil engineering company has benefited from the rural immigration program and Nordic.

“This has been a real game-changer for our organization when it comes to some of these hard-to-fill positions because it has allowed us to address some critical shortages for positions critical to our operations,” she said.

“The mechanic position is probably the most difficult to fill, as the pool of qualified candidates is limited in the North. »

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it recognizes the needs of different communities as part of its efforts to create a permanent rural immigration program.

“We continue to evaluate how immigration can best meet the needs of rural areas, which face different challenges than larger urban centers,” spokesperson Jeffrey MacDonald said in a statement.

“While we have introduced measures to manage volumes of international students and temporary workers in the coming years, we remain committed to meeting the unique economic and demographic needs of rural communities through targeted immigration pathways.

Frédéric Boulanger, director of immigration programs and services at Collège Boréal — which provides language and career support to newcomers across Ontario — said immigrants are willing to settle in regions with good job prospects .

“They’re not just looking for a job, they’re looking for a career,” he said. “They want to maximize their potential, use their skills, use their training, their personal background and contribute as quickly as possible.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published December 15, 2024.

Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press