Renewing Municipal Infrastructure and Integrating Internationally-educated and Experienced Workers Into the Workforce

Posted: Wednesday, 3 June 2009

1.Introduction

Over the past decade, municipalities have been puttiing pressure on the federal government ro recognize the urgent need for improvements to municipal infrastructure (e..g., road repairs, water treatment, waste management, parks, recreational and cultural facilities). At the same time, urban centres have been hit hard by the downloading of provincial responsibilities for human, social and recreational services, particularly in the areas of mandated programs, e.g., social welfare assistance and housing for low-income earners and the poor. This, in turn, has created a downward pressure on funding available for infrastructure renewal as the costs of mandated programs increases without corresponding increases in provincial transfer payments. As such, municipalities are forced to fund these essential human services as a priority and this leaves less and less funding over time for infrastructure renewal.

While this dilemma continues with much debate between urban leaders and those from the provincial and federal governments, the current configuration of the Canadian economy faces significant skills and labour shortages in specific regions and sectors. One of the ways Canadian governments, federal and provincial, have begun to address these challenges is through increases in immigration levels and more selective targets aimed at attracting immigrant labour to meet Canadian labour market needs. On the one hand, while immigration levels have increased and there has been a more selective approach to immigrant selection, internationally-educated, skilled and experienced immigrants continue to face significant barriers to the recognition of their knowledge and skills. This leads to barriers these immigrants encounter in being employed within the profession for which they have studied and practiced in for many years.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) has noted both of these challenges and is interested in addressing both through a collaborative set of strategies that aims to enhance municipal infrastructure renewal and employment of internationally-educated and experienced workers.