After allowing in unsustainable numbers of international students and temporary foreign workers, the federal Liberals are finally refocusing immigration policy on what it has long done well: Selecting those most likely to help grow the economy to live here permanently.
That’s a move in the right direction, but two major issues remain.
The first is that the federal government has significantly tampered with the points system, the key mechanism through which Canada chooses skilled workers. The second is the fact that Ottawa and the provinces have done little to address the long-standing absurdity that many internationally trained professionals in a number of sectors – from health care to engineering – can’t practise in their fields in Canada.
On the Brink
This is part of a series on the continuing challenges facing Canada’s immigration system.
Overview: Our pillars of immigration are crumbling
Border: Ottawa must change old thinking about a new frontier
Refugees: A new approach is needed, not just more money
Enforcement: Incentives to follow the rules are not enough
The distortion of the points system is recent. Traditionally, the system would select applicants based on broad predictors of their economic success in Canada – factors such as age, education, language proficiency and work experience – and leave it up to the market to match workers to jobs.
But, Ottawa, with cheerleading from the provinces, has superimposed a significant degree of central planning on the points system, including, since 2023, prioritizing the admission of workers in select “critical sectors.” Candidates who fit niche needs now jump the queue, often ahead of higher-ranking applicants.
In 2019, almost all permanent residents admitted through the points system were part of a general pool. But by 2024, specialized streams accounted for more than half of permanent residents, excluding applicants chosen by the provinces. The general pool made up just 49 per cent.
One of the special categories is health care workers – including nurses, family physicians and veterinarians – which brings us to the second problem. Estimates indicate there are already at least 13,000 internationally trained medical graduates in this country unable to practise medicine, even while Canada forecasts a shortage of 78,000 doctors by 2031.
As a first step, the Liberals need to stop undermining the points system and meddling in the labour market. But Ottawa and the provinces then must ensure that skilled immigrants have a real opportunity to use their skills.
In essence, Canada has been letting in foreign-educated professionals with the right hand – the points system – and blocking many of them from working in their field with the left hand – the licensing system.
A similar issue exists in nursing. And Canadians could also use more doctors for their sick pets. Yet it can take years for veterinarians educated abroad to obtain a license here.
At the heart of the problem is a disconnect between immigration policy and licensing processes. With the exception of Quebec, it’s Ottawa that primarily selects who gets to come to work in Canada. But it is independent regulatory bodies in the provinces and territories that decide who gets to practise in fields that require a license.
Regulatory colleges and similar entities are in charge of ensuring that workers in these professions are qualified to do their jobs competently, safely and ethically in Canada. But internationally trained candidates often face a preposterously complicated path to obtaining that regulatory blessing, one laden with bureaucratic Catch-22s that seem designed to keep non-Canadian-educated applicants out.
In practice, licensing has been a wrench in the gears of the points system, often preventing highly skilled immigrants from meeting the domestic demand for workers with exactly their qualifications.
(Granted, Canada’s public health care system isn’t a free market. But licensing is a big reason why the sector has such a large underused supply of international graduates.)
While health care labour shortages have recently spurred some attempts to simplify licensing for doctors and nurses, the changes are still too timid.
It’s time to take the hammer to both the new and old kinks in the system. Ottawa should scrap the special categories and restore the simplicity of the points-based ranking. And the federal government and the provinces together must streamline the inflow of newcomers – both new immigrants and those already here – into all regulated professions.
It’s the right thing to do for the Canadian economy, and for talented newcomers who want to make this country home.
Podcast: A new diagnosis for immigration
How can Canada reach a better balance on immigration, housing and the labour market? Editorials editor Patrick Brethour spoke with The Decibel about the issues explored in this series. Subscribe for more episodes.