The government is putting a premium on arriving immigrants to mend skills shortage
An additional $15.1 million has been earmarked by the Ontario government to its Ontario Immigrant Nominee Programme (OINP) to help more skilled immigrants get into vacant jobs and become permanents of the province.
The OINP allows the province to nominate individuals who have the skills and the experience to contribute to the provincial economy.
"Nominating newcomers to work in Ontario helps meet the needs of our growing economy, by filling jobs in health care, computer programming, web development, and trucking," said the provincial government in a statement.
With the nomination, these people can apply for a permanent residence through the Federal government by heading over to the Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada.
The additional millions poured into the programme, the provincial government said it will help the initiative grow, enhance security and fraud detection, as well as other IT updates to ensure that the system can handle a bigger capacity.
It would also allow Ontario to fill "targeted labour market gaps across the province and drive overall economic growth."
"By investing in the future success of this programme, we're not resting until everyone in Ontario who wants to earn a paycheque is able to do so," said Labour Minister Monte McNaughton in a statement.
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It comes as the province only saw 9,000 nominated newcomers under the OINP, out of the 120,000 economic class immigrants that arrived in Canada over the past year.
"Newcomers are crucial to growing our economy and building a stronger future for all of us," said McNaughton.
"We're lowering the barriers they face and have called on our partners in the federal government to double the number of newcomers Ontario can select in 2022."
The announcement came after the government announced that it will be launching a new entrepreneur pilot to attract 100 international entrepreneurs to start or grow businesses in regions outside the Greater Toronto Area.
It also came after Ontario announced it is "removing discriminatory barriers" that prevent foreign-trained professionals from working in the professions they specialise in.
It also builds on the government's efforts to attract more top talent and investment within the province by improving the nomination process and help small and rural communities attract and retain skilled workers.
