Discussion · Government Orders
Lena Metlege Diab Liberal
“We are making it easier for foreign doctors, researchers, and students to stay in Canada. This will bring top talent here and grow our economy.”
“Mr. Chair, I thank the member for London Centre for his tremendous work and for being a super parliamentary secretary. He works extremely hard for his constituents and for Canadians on this file. Let me talk a bit about talent attraction, about what exactly we are doing and why these estimates are so important. We are prioritizing top international talent through new ways for doctors with work experience here to apply for permanent residency. We have, through my work on the file, which is something I did at the Nova Scotia level back in 2018, dedicated an express entry stream for surgeons, physicians and clinical specialists with 12 months of Canadian work experience. The first round happened in February, a couple of months ago. We have already issued 391 invitations to apply. In addition, we have allocated to provinces and territories an unprecedented number of up to 5,000 additional nomination spaces to support practice-ready physicians through the provincial nominee programs. We are also developing an accelerated pathway for H-1B visa holders, removing the attestation letter requirement for graduate students, launching a targeted pilot for high-value immigrant entrepreneurs, fast-tracking processing for Ph.D. students and creating pathways for researchers. With our new talent attraction strategy, we are going to recruit more than 1,000 highly qualified researchers and give them the resources they need to drive innovation here at home and build the Canadian economy of tomorrow. This work is already under way, and I work very closely with other departments. Canadians expect us to attract the best and the brightest to build a strong, competitive economy. That is exactly what we are doing, and we will continue to do that. These initiatives add to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s $1.7-billion Canada global impact+ research talent initiative to recruit, as I said, over 1,000 world-leading researchers. Let me end by saying that we have a plan. The plan is working. The facts are there. I am very excited for this country for the next months and years to come. There is a lot of work that is happening, and I encourage all young people and all Canadians to partake in it.”
Mr. Chair, I thank the member for London Centre for his tremendous work and for being a super parliamentary secretary. He works extremely hard for his constituents and for Canadians on this file. Let me talk a bit about talent attraction, about what exactly we are doing and why these estimates are so important. We are prioritizing top international talent through new ways for doctors with work experience here to apply for permanent residency. We have, through my work on the file, which is something I did at the Nova Scotia level back in 2018, dedicated an express entry stream for surgeons, physicians and clinical specialists with 12 months of Canadian work experience. The first round happened in February, a couple of months ago. We have already issued 391 invitations to apply. In addition, we have allocated to provinces and territories an unprecedented number of up to 5,000 additional nomination spaces to support practice-ready physicians through the provincial nominee programs. We are also developing an accelerated pathway for H-1B visa holders, removing the attestation letter requirement for graduate students, launching a targeted pilot for high-value immigrant entrepreneurs, fast-tracking processing for Ph.D. students and creating pathways for researchers. With our new talent attraction strategy, we are going to recruit more than 1,000 highly qualified researchers and give them the resources they need to drive innovation here at home and build the Canadian economy of tomorrow. This work is already under way, and I work very closely with other departments. Canadians expect us to attract the best and the brightest to build a strong, competitive economy. That is exactly what we are doing, and we will continue to do that. These initiatives add to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s $1.7-billion Canada global impact+ research talent initiative to recruit, as I said, over 1,000 world-leading researchers. Let me end by saying that we have a plan. The plan is working. The facts are there. I am very excited for this country for the next months and years to come. There is a lot of work that is happening, and I encourage all young people and all Canadians to partake in it.