Increase number of Canadian temporary work visas, says trade group

The Ontario, Canada–based Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce (SSMCOC) is pushing the government of Canada to increase the country's temporary workers by coming up with a special visa in order to facilitate high-growth companies to pull in global management talent more comfortably.

Rory Ring, SSMCOC Executive Director, said that the country badly needed to rope in special skills in a bid to manage companies that were growing exponentially.

Citing Sault Ste. Marie, a lovely city in Ontario, Ring said that there was a shortage of skills among companies located there, which wanted to go global by commercialising their products.

Meanwhile, a report published by Ontario's Chamber of Commerce stated that a new visa was the need of the hour for high-growth firms which have employment and revenue growth rates exceeding 20 percent per year for three successive years. Besides, they should have 10 or more employees when they began.

Agreeing with the report, the Sault Ste. Marie Chamber of Commerce said that their major recommendations for governments were to provide businesses leeway to tap talent in the short term, which could be created by a scale-up visa to hasten access to global managerial talent.

A scale-up visa would do away with the requirement for Canadian companies to undertake labour market impact evaluations before hiring experienced managers, added Ring.

A talent pool is also needed that knows how to handle itself in a global environment with knowledge of situations and circumstances such as political risks, adoption of marketing, technology, country risk analysis and currency exchange, when a company wishes to foray into foreign markets.

Ring stated that the growth rate of high-growth companies is 10 times faster than traditional businesses.

If the proposal is accepted, it presents a good opportunity for highly skilled Indians to migrate to Canada on a new type of visa.