Face of Nation : Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen says Canada must be quick to adapt and innovate in order to remain a global leader in attracting skilled workers.
Hussen is welcoming a new report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which praised Canada’s economic immigration system as one of the most successful in the world. It said Canada is widely seen as a “benchmark” for other countries.
Hussen said while there are a lot of areas where Canada is getting things right, more can be done to respond to existing and future challenges.
“There are no sacred cows when it comes to immigration,” he told CBC News in an interview. “Having a smart immigration policy means you should always be open to learning from others and to constantly improve the system.”
“Make no mistake about it. I think we need to do more to counter a lot of the misinformation and fear-mongering that we’re being bombarded with from outside of Canada,” he said, referring to a CBC investigation that found foreign Twitter troll accounts targeted Canadians to sow divisions over immigration.
On the eve of an election where immigration issues are expected to be up for debate, including the government’s handling of border-crossing asylum seekers, the OECD report finds that when it comes to recruiting skilled labour, Canada is doing things right. It points to smooth integration and high public acceptance of migrants as signs of success. It also says Canada has a strong appeal to potential skilled workers from around the world.
Liebig said the report’s assessment is “very favourable” of Canada. It’s the tenth country the OECD has studied as part of a series of reports into the labour migration systems of member countries.
Liebig said Canada has the largest, longest-standing and most comprehensive skilled labour migration system in the OECD, and noted Canadians’ openness to migration is higher than other countries. “This high acceptance is certainly linked with the perception that migration is both well managed and beneficial to Canada,” he told CBC News in an email. “Not only is the selection system highly elaborate, but also many other factors support it which make for a well-managed system from which other countries can learn a lot.”
