Ontario’s efforts to fill critical labour shortages in sectors like construction and healthcare are facing mounting pressure as the federal government slashes immigration quotas and processing times for skilled workers soar.
The processing time for skilled immigrants nominated by the provinces, through programs like the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP), has nearly doubled, jumping from 11 months to 20 months.
At the same time, Ontario's nomination allocation has been cut in half as for November last year, with Prime Minister Mark Carney keeping this decision in place and hinted that he is open to further caps.