The
Honourable Chris Alexander MP, Mr. Robert T. Chisholm,
Minister
of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Associate
Member – OSPE,
Citizenship
and Immigration Canada, 251 Ridgepark Private,
65
Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa,
Ottawa,
Ontario
K2G 1H1,
Ontario
K1A 1L1,
E-mail:
chisholm@storm.ca
Phone: 613-723-2070
June
12th 2015
Dear Mr. Alexander,
OVER-SUPPLY
OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS IN ONTARIO, INEFFICIENT ECONOMY AND JOB MARKETS,
AND MIS-GUIDED IMMIGRATION POLICIES.
1. For some time now the
Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) has been attempting to arrange
a meeting with you about a long-standing problem. This concerns a gross
over-supply of professional engineers to Ontario and Canada as a whole,
relative to what the job markets for engineers can absorb. At the same time,
your immediate predecessor, The Honourable Jason Kenney, has
shown serious interest in this since OSPE’s
Ray Givens, P. Eng., drew his attention to it in April 2013.
This is not an official OSPE
letter but I maintain close contact with OSPE, for the purpose of ensuring that
I have the facts right when these originate from OSPE and certain other sources
that I will be referring to. The other
information and analysis that I will be referring to is my own responsibility,
but is all backed with comprehensive supporting documentation.
2. I would attribute Mr.
Kenney’s impressions prior to April 2013 concerning an engineering skills
shortage, to the following:-
2.1. Big business leaders
were lobbying Mr. Kenney and the federal government about the need for more
immigration as the “only” solution to these alleged skills shortages.
2.2. Lack of on-the-job
training offered by Canadian employers, because they were relying on large
numbers of applicants for every position advertised.
2.3. Popular disinformation
and myths about people out of work in Canada.
2.4. The so-called “official unemployed”
only account for a relatively small part of the overall problem of unemployment
and underemployment in Canada.
Apart from the above, I would
also comment as follows:-
3. In 2010/2011, I approached
federal Minister for Industry Tony Clement - through federal M.P. David
McGuinty - with some questions about the measurement and reporting of
unemployment and underemployment in Canada. The answers received were
dismissive and un-clear and included an un-qualified and glib statement about
“... those who have ceased looking for work for various reasons...”.
4. On November 20th 2014 I
participated in a live chat session with Statistics Canada and raised certain
questions about the same subject area. Again, the answers were dismissive and
un-clear.
5. I also think that until we
can see satisfactory proof to the contrary, the business and government
behaviours referred to earlier have been going on partly because too many
people in the business community are really only interested in procuring cheap
labour and cheapening people, based on false pretences that this is the way to
get best value for money from employees or people out of work, and
foreign-trained professional immigrants.
6. So far as working
immigrants are concerned – meaning engineers and everybody else - quite
obviously, successful immigration policies are possible only in the presence of
an economy that is actually generating enough jobs relative to the numbers of
people applying for them.
7. With regard to the Report
from the Panel on Employment Challenges of New Canadians, "Survival to
Success: Transforming Immigrant Outcomes", already referred to, I consider
the report to be very good work - as far as it goes.
8. However the comments made
under para. 1, paras. 2.1 to 2.4 above and paras. 3 to 6 above represent an
additional set of dimensions to the challenge of economic development of Canada
which must be addressed and which are unavoidable.
9. There are additional facets
to the job search issue that have always been generally over-looked - or
deliberately ignored for political reasons, by those who find this
“inconvenient”. Example: the “...who you know...” factor.
10. I can
re-state para. 9 above in another way, founded on a probability and
statistics–based view of the job seeker’s conundrum. The probability of any one job application succeeding might, for
example, be between 1 in 300 and 1 in 800 – or even less than that.
11. A second problem area
arises from mistaken perceptions within Canadian workplaces to the effect that
there are “...lots of jobs...”, or some such, for EVERYBODY – but when this is
actually not the case.
12. As indicated already, a
third problem area arises from the effects of mathematical probability, chance
and previous experience in determining the success probability for any one job
application. Low success probabilities for “outsiders” having persistent
trouble getting work, caused by them not having a retinue of professional
referees, represents a self perpetuating situation for which they are then
criticised based on tradition and incompetence. The said critics are ignorant,
wish to remain so and employ office politics based on obfuscation and
superciliousness in order to cover themselves up. .
13. A fourth problem area concerns
gross over-emphasis on resume-writing and other aspects of “appearances”
involved in the job application process. Meanwhile, nobody does anything
serious about the supply-demand situation already referred to. On top of that,
there are serious and inexcusable bureaucratic obstructions placed in the way
of people needing retraining to acquire new skills relevant to current job
market needs. These obstructions are rooted in dysfunctional E.I.-related rules
concerning “insurable weeks of employment”, Ontario Works eligibility rules and
so on.
14. So what are the key
solutions to all this, in principle at least?
14.1 Change the method of
reporting in the media about people out of work. Stop the use of deceitful and
pejorative terms such as “...given up looking for work...” and “...dropped out
of the labour force...” This can be done immediately.
In the longer term, institute
an improved system for information gathering and reporting on unemployment and
under-employment.
14.2 Entice foreign trained
professional immigrants (such as engineers) to Canada through employers
offering contracts of employment that are legally-binding under Canadian law,
and by NO OTHER METHOD. With the regulated professions, the contracts of
employment must guarantee work for at least the period necessary to meet the
Canadian experience requirements component for official licensing to practice
in Canada.
While
this may give rise to certain concerns for the business community on account of
certain economic and social trends in Canada going back at least as far as
1982, legislative action on this issue is still necessary. The issue is one of
stopping a massive wastage of people being caused by bad information and
legalistic chicanery at their expense.
14.3 Retraining must be made available
for all people out of work in Canada, without any E.I. – related restrictions
or provincial social assistance-related restrictions.
14.4 The objectives and
priorities of economic development in Canada must be changed to include full
employment – meaning satisfactory jobs for everybody who wants one.
Satisfactory conditions for start-ups to grow and create jobs are an important
part of this; start-ups involving engineering and technology are arguably among
the most important because new jobs in those drive the creation of jobs in the
rest of the economy.
In this context, the need for
satisfactory incentives to better oneself is NOT confined just to the rich (1%
or less of the general population) who already have a gross excess of
incentives relative to actual needs. Economies depend on PEOPLE and not
just money for those who are already rich..
14.5 All actions geared to
economic development in Canada must reflect the objectives and priorities noted
in para. 14.4 above. The set of challenges as a whole extends far beyond simply
fixing what is wrong with our immigration policies.
www.unempgeninfo.com/engletter.htm
There have been some changes of Directors
at OSPE in the past month or so, following recent elections within OSPE. Please
respond to me directly in the first instance. I will then relay your response
to the appropriate people at OSPE.
Yours faithfully,
(signed) Robert T. Chisholm
The Honourable Michael Chan,
Ministry of Citizenship, Immigration and International
Trade,
6th floor,
400 University Avenue,
Toronto,
Ontario M7A 2R9.
Copies for Information – general.
In the coming days I will be circulating
this letter to additional people whom I think need to be aware of the situation
and what should be done about it. The full list will be appended to the Web
version of this letter, located at the URL already given.
---------------------------------------------------
Tuesday June 16th 2015 – new recipients of the URL’s
for the letter:--
Sandro Perruzza – C.E.O., Ontario
Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE)
Dr. Ray Barton - C.E.O., Vitesse Re-Skilling, Kanata,
Ontario