Debates of October 27, 2006 (day 17)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions are in following up with my Member’s statement and it’s to the Minister of Employment. I think that we’re all aware that here in Yellowknife the cost of living and the cost of doing business is very expensive and the booming economy sometimes works against small businesses who have to compete with the ever-reducing supply of labour and having to compete with big governments and big company packages sometimes. When they are looking to look overseas, if they have to, they run into more problems having really no service in Yellowknife to deal with this. I’d like to know what the Minister has done, if anything, in that regard in his office as Minister. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Dent.

Return To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I listened with interest to Ms. Lee’s statement and it is an issue that I understand is becoming more and more of a problem for northern employers finding suitable staff because of the overheated economy. To date, I have approached Minister Solberg’s office on a couple of issues. One was to see if we could get some action on assisting the tourism operators who need Japanese staff; another to address an issue of a long-standing or outstanding application for Canadian citizenship for a doctor who is practicing in the North. We’ve had successful resolution of one of those.

I haven’t been approached by fast-food service restaurants, but I would be quite prepared to sit down with them, discuss what their needs are, and then develop a plan of action to address this. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If he is interested in hearing, getting advice from this side of the floor, Mr. Speaker, I could tell you that a fast-food chain in downtown are actually using personal referrals from an employee from Korea that worked there and she or he are being asked to look for people in Korea. I mean, they’re using personal connections because they felt that they were getting no help from the immigration office and the immigration office here is really equipped with enforcement of bad immigrants, so to speak, not really there to facilitate people who want to bring in employees.

Another thing is, I know that there is a fast-food chain in the Range Lake area where they’re looking at bringing 60 employees from the Philippines and they’re not even bothering to go through Yellowknife office because they’re so ill-resourced and ill-equipped. So I’d like to know -- and I’m sure this is not the first time the Minister is hearing that -- would the Minister be willing to look at talking to Minister Solberg and see if he would increase the resources in the immigration office in Yellowknife? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I hadn’t heard about this problem with the fast-food service restaurants, but now that I have heard about it I would be quite happy to find out what their specific needs are and then see how we can address that with Minister Solberg, yes.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With regard to the other side of the coin about the professional immigrants in Canada, not just in Yellowknife, who are not able to practice in their area -- whether they be engineers, doctors, pharmacists -- I mean it’s good that the Minister is looking at one file, but would he be willing to look at all of the qualification process in those professions, and nursing too, and dentists, and see if he could harmonize that process so that at least we’re able to use the resources that are already here; human resources. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One of the big issues that Ministers across Canada are trying to address is how to measure prior learning and the whole field of prior learning assessment, and how to recognize the qualifications that immigrants to Canada bring to the table is not something that we’re struggling with in our jurisdiction alone, but it is a problem all across Canada. I would be quite happy to continue to work on this file. One of the big issues that we have is we have a lot of professions that are self-regulating. It’s been somewhat of a challenge to get some of those professions to come to the table to deal with prior learning assessment and try and ensure that we can see professionals from other regions or other countries come into Canada. But it is something that I’m prepared to keep working on.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Supplementary To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As my final supplementary, there are so many different aspects of this and at the same time this is not new. I’d like to know if the Minister of labour and human resources, if the Minister will undertake reviewing this issue and come up with some sort of discussion paper or position paper for the communities to get engaged in. I think this is a very important area for the future of many industries here where we already have had a lot of people coming from all over the place looking for jobs and such. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Lee. Mr. Dent.

Further Return To Question 205-15(5): Impact Of Labour Shortages On Small Businesses

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d be happy to take a look at whether or not, I would undertake to attempt in the next couple of months to develop such a discussion paper that would deal with both immigration issues and challenges that we’re seeing in the North as well as prior learning assessment for immigrants and other challenges that they may face and see if there aren’t some ways in which we might work with the federal government to address those. Thank you.