Statement - Second Anniversary of the Global Skills Strategy

OTTAWA, June 12, 2019 /CNW/ - The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship; the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development; and the Honourable Patricia Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, today issued the following statement:

"Two years ago today, we introduced the Global Skills Strategy to help Canadian businesses attract the people with the talent they need to succeed in the global marketplace.

"While Canadian workers are among the world's most highly educated and skilled, for Canadian firms to remain globally competitive, they must also be able to attract the best minds and talent from other countries. The Global Skills Strategy is helping Canadian companies to get the highly skilled workers they need to succeed and grow the economy.

"A key component of this strategy is the Global Talent Steam, which gives Canadian employers fast and reliable access to top talent from around the world, by quickly issuing work permits to highly skilled and experienced workers.

"Over the past two years, more than 1,100 Canadian employers have used the Global Talent Stream. They have committed to creating more than 48,000 jobs and more than 12,500 paid co-op positions, while dedicating over $113 million in skills development and training. As of March 2019, the tremendously successful Global Talent Stream has been made permanent.

"The Strategy also introduced work permit exemptions for highly skilled talent coming for 30 days or less and for researchers coming for 120 days or less. We ramped up our services for employers who are planning job-creating investments in Canada, but who may need to bring in talented workers from abroad to make those investments a success.

"After two years, nearly 40,000 people have come to Canada under the Global Skills Strategy, including nearly 24,000 highly skilled workers in occupations such as computer programming, information system analysis and software engineering. As Canada's technology sector has historically struggled to attract the talent it needs to scale up, this is precisely the type of talent our Government had in mind when it first launched this strategy.

"With the Global Skills Strategy, Canada is positioned to succeed in the global race for talent. By helping Canadian companies grow, this strategy is creating more jobs for Canada's middle class and a stronger Canadian economy."

SOURCE Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada