those in the program looking for options to stay in Canada.
Agicic said, however, the future of Canada will likely depend on how immigration is dealt with in this country.
“The government sees the potential — these people have already been here in Canada for a number of years, they are established in the community and they have gained enough language and other employable skills,” said Agicic.
“Why wouldn’t we open another avenue for them to explore staying here?”
She highlighted the federal government’s new Express Entry program as one of those potential avenues.
That program launched in January opens the door for TFWs and their employers to apply for permanent residency for suitable candidates for the program.
“Seeing one door close and another
open gives me
hope that is what is going
to happen. It would be a shame to miss the boat completely because some of these people
have been here four or five years,” said Agicic.
She reiterated that despite the current downturn in the Alberta economy, this province is still forecasting a labour shortage of tens of thousands of people over the next two decades and the current population growth in Canada is largely due to immigration.
“Our workforce — almost half — is between 45 and 65 years old. We have an extremely old workforce,” said Agicic, later adding, “if there is not enough of a population of people who will be working and contributing taxes, pretty soon we’ll be charged for every service that we need.”
More than 100,000 TFWs have subscribed to the TFW program annually over the past several years, with Alberta routinely ranking as the top employer of foreign workers. ■
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41188829•03/31/15
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