Build it, and they will come. But what if you haven’t built it and they still come?
Also, what if you need more of them but you don’t have a clear picture of what you need most of, what they need most of and how you are going to ensure that you and they have the best chances of succeeding for the betterment of all factors involved: People, families, careers, communities and local economies?
These are some of the core questions needing answers at the heart of getting the immigration equation right in B.C. and across Canada.
There is little doubt that the province and the country need the human resources horsepower that immigration can add to local economic engines, especially when domestic birth rates are low and job market demand is high.
There is also little doubt that Canada is not the only country in need of that added horsepower.
Among its challenges on that front is that one of its main competitors for innovative and productive human resources horsepower is the United States. The world’s largest economy can easily outbid Canada for top talent.
Canada also needs the energy and initiative that immigration can provide in more places than the country’s handful of major urban centres. And many of the rural communities in need of that energy and initiative do not have the basic infrastructure to accommodate or attract potential immigration candidates to fill those needs.
Simply adding numbers to immigration intake might provide short-term public relations fodder for politicians, but it will not overcome those challenges.
Instituting tax regimes conducive to attracting and retaining top talent and providing other incentives for immigrants to build careers in rural communities will help with talent competition and human resources allocation challenges.
Meanwhile, basing immigration intake on clear goals rooted in accurate data rather than on public relations spin-doctoring and special interest group pressures would go a long way to providing immigrants and the country with what they need.
