Looking to recruit skilled workers both domestically and internationally
Looking to attract more workers, Saskatchewan has introduced legislation meant to reduce barriers to working in the province.
The Labour Mobility and Fair Registration Practices Act will ensure skilled workers can have their skills and credentials recognized, while assisting employers in filling jobs across a number of key sectors, such as healthcare, construction and IT.
The new act will also address credential recognition issues for new Canadians, increase interprovincial credential recognition and ensure employers have better access to a qualified labour force, according to the government.
"To meet the demands of Saskatchewan's growing economy, it is important that we develop our current labour force as well as recruit domestically and internationally to bring more skilled workers to the province," says Jeremy Harrison, minister of immigration and career training. "This new legislation will be the most comprehensive of its kind and make Saskatchewan a destination of choice for skilled professionals and tradespeople.”
In October, Alberta said it also intended to make it easier and faster to recognize the professional credentials of Canadians seeking to move to the province for a new job with the introduction of a Labour Mobility Act.
Earlier, Ontario introduced legislation that would ensure that workers from other provinces can get their credentials processed within a service standard of 30 business days.
Saskatchewan is setting up a new Labour Mobility and Fair Registration Practices Office within the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training to work with regulatory bodies to examine timeframes for registration decisions, registration application requirements, qualification assessment processes and internationally trained recognition pathways.
Currently, it is one of the only provinces in the country without legislation requiring regulatory bodies to comply with domestic trade agreements, or to support fair registration practices for internationally trained workers. Now, the new legislation will apply to all of Saskatchewan's 60 regulatory bodies, 120 regulated occupations and other industry members.
Recently, Ottawa announced the Temporary Foreign Worker Program Workforce Solutions Road Map which makes significant changes to the program “to meet the labour market needs of today.”
"As we enter the busiest time of the year for the construction sector in Saskatchewan, it is more important than ever that our members have access to a wide pool of skilled tradespeople," says Mark Cooper, CEO of the Saskatchewan Construction Association. "The introduction of this new act will ensure that we maintain our safety standards and can quickly grow our workforce of skilled workers in a timely and efficient manner."
