New legislation tabled in B.C. promises to increase the supply of workers in 29 professions, including high demand ones such as engineers, teachers, childcare workers, paramedics and veterinarians.
The legislation, which Andrew Mercier, Minister of State for Workforce Development, announced Monday (Oct. 29) is part of a larger push to fill looming job shortages. The provincial government projects one million job openings within the next decade.
Premier David Eby, who joined Mercier at a news conference, said labour supply and housing are the two most pressing issues facing B.C. “These feel like very solvable issues and today’s legislation is part of how we are going to solve that issue.”
Mercier said about 60 to 70 per cent of the one million job openings will come from retirements, as the proportion of British Columbians over age 65 continues to grow.
Filling those openings will take two things: taking better advantage of the skilled workers already available in B.C. and reducing barriers for people looking to move to and work in the province. Eby said they expect as many as one-third of job openings over the next decade to be filled by internationally-trained professionals.
British Columbia is not the only place in the western world competing for training labour. A report released by the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation last week found permanent migration to OECD countries, including Canada, reached record levels in 2022 with four out of 10 immigrants coming to Canada to work.
But many often find themselves in jobs below their levels of qualification.
“Internationally-trained professionals have a choice when they come to Canada and there are a lot of folks that elect to come to British Columbia,” Mercier said. “We want them to stay here, which means that we need to be a leader in international credential recognition processes,” he added.
The tabled legislation removes “unfair and unnecessary” Canadian work experience and “excessive and expansive” language requirements.
Eby called this work requirement a Catch-22. “How do you get Canadian work experience if you’re not allowed to work in Canada in the field where you have experience?” he asked.
Mercier added that immigrants admitted to Canada have already passed language tests. “Why should you then be recertified for English for the same test?”
Other aspects of the legislation, which is scheduled to come into force in the summer of 2024, will create a new superintendent responsible for promoting fair credential recognition, establish maximum limit caps for recognizing foreign credentials and make credential assessment information available online.
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Mercier said government chose the 29 professions by identifying the ones with the greatest barriers, adding that government consulted widely before making the changes. Among included occupations are engineers, social workers, early childhood educators, paramedics, teachers and biologists.
“No one’s defending the status quo,” he said.
The legislation builds on previous efforts to speed up the credentialing of health-care professionals, but Eby pointed out that B.C. also needs workers in other areas.
He also defended the inclusion of lawyers, while acknowleding the importance of health care. “(We) actually did choose health care…and we are taking some of those learnings from health care,” Eby said, adding that B.C. is now moving to all the other professionals.
“There are many communities around the province — and I am not just saying this, because I am a lawyer — that are actually short community lawyers,” Eby said.
@wolfgangdepner
wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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