A house under construction in Ottawa. Photo by Ashley Fraser/Postmedia

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Closing the door to immigrants can “never” be the answer to solving Canada’s homelessness, says Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, as the country prepares to welcome a record 1.45 million newcomers over the next three years.

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Speaking to immigration experts at an event in Ottawa on Monday, Fraser said Canada will need to bring in more workers who can build homes and encourage people to move to parts of the country that have better “absorptive capacity” to cope the problems of the housing sector. , which include a sharp increase in prices in recent years. By clicking the subscribe button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300

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“The solution to homelessness is not to close the door to newcomers, it never will be,” Fraser told the annual Pathways to Prosperity National Conference. “We intend to bring in skilled workers, in greater numbers than has been the case historically, who have the ability to work in home construction.” Canada has increased its immigration targets for the next three years, but some economists, such as Carrie Freestone of the Royal Bank of Canada, believe the government needs to build its targets into its infrastructure plans to make sure there are necessary needs to “welcome All.”

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The country wants to bring in 465,000 permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024 and 500,000 in 2025 as it tries to address labor shortages. The numbers are higher than last year’s plan, which targeted 447,055 new entrants in 2023 and 451,000 in 2024. Canada will also introduce new tools next year to better help the immigration system target sectors like health care and construction that have the greatest need for labor. Construction continues to be among those industries reporting employment gains, but there are still increases in the number of job vacancies, according to BuildForce Canada, a national organization representing all sectors of the construction industry. The Ontario government last month said the province will need about 100,000 more construction workers this decade to meet its goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

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Fraser said the government was to launch a “long-term planning exercise” to deal with future housing-related problems, adding he had “all the faith in the world” the country would be able to avoid creating a “long-term”. systemic problem when it comes to the debate on welcoming large numbers of newcomers.” The minister added that he was in constant contact on the issue with housing minister Ahmed Hussen, who sits next to him in the House of Commons. “Our running joke as I sit and say, ‘Ahmed, if I can keep increasing our immigration numbers, can you build enough houses?’ He says, ‘Well, it depends, can you bring in enough newcomers with the skills to build houses to make sure we all have … places to live?’” Fraser said. “Although we’re kind of kidding, that’s part of the solution.”

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Rebekah Young, head of financial inclusion and resilience at the Bank of Nova Scotia, said the minister’s message was generally positive, as labor shortages are “obviously one of the barriers to greater supply.” But he added that ministers should “take care to let their provincial and municipal counterparts in on the joke” to ensure federal policies are aligned across all levels of government, as many of the “policy levers” to unlock more homes lie at provincial and municipal level. .

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Immigration plays a key role in Canada’s labor supply, accounting for 84 per cent of the growth in the total labor force during the 2010s, according to Statistics Canada. At the same time, evidence shows that the skills of newcomers are regularly underutilized. The number of university-educated immigrants working in jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree fell to 38 per cent in 2016, from 46 per cent in 2001, compared to 60 per cent for Canadian-born workers, according to Statistics Canada of Canada. • E-MAIL: [email protected] | Twitter: naimonthefield protected information iframe=” height=”1200″]

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