A recent decision by the Ontario government to transform the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) is not sitting well with Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski and Fort Frances Mayor Andrew Hallikas, who released a joint statement on the matter this week.
The changes to the immigrant nominee program aim to better align immigration with labour market needs while focusing on addressing critical workforce shortages across key sectors of the economy.
According to the province, by streamlining the existing eight streams into four, the redesigned immigrant nominee program will meet changing labour market demands while protecting opportunities for Ontario workers.
The province says the revamped program will strengthen eligibility requirements and reduce duplication while giving the province greater flexibility to target in-demand skills and respond to evolving labour market needs, strengthening Ontario’s domestic workforce.
In a statement, David Piccini, minister of labour, immigration, training and skills development, said targeted skilled immigration is key to building Ontario’s workforce and securing Ontario’s economic future.
“By modernizing the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program, our government is focusing on people with jobs and experience who can contribute to our ongoing work to protect Ontario’s economy quickly,” Piccini said.
Powlowski and Hallikas claim that Piccini’s remarks in deciding that Ontario would not participate in relaxing federal rules regarding temporary foreign workers are not in the best interests of the people of Northern Ontario.
“Ontario is a large and diverse province, and what may be in the interests of one part of the province is not necessarily in the interests of another,” Powlowski told The Chronicle-Journal. “Small communities in Northern Ontario, many of whom were consulted in the preparation of this statement, need workers.”
Powlowski argues that recent federal changes, which apply only to underserved rural areas, reflect a recognition that the needs of rural communities like those in Northern Ontario are not the same as those of large urban centres.
He says that while he and Hallikas acknowledge that immigration pressures in major cities can create challenges and may require constraints, rural Northern Ontario faces the opposite problem and needs more, not fewer, foreign workers.
Hallikas called the labour shortage in Northern communities ubiquitous and said recent cuts to immigration have left smaller communities in Northern Ontario, such as Fort Frances, in a particularly difficult position.
“Over the past year, we have heard from numerous small businesses in Fort Frances, all of whom have indicated that without access to foreign workers, they would face serious challenges in maintaining operations,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Conference Board of Canada identified labour shortages as the most significant impediment to economic growth in Northern Ontario, with nearly 14,000 quarterly vacancies in 2024 translating into an estimated $1.8 billion in lost GDP.
Hallikas added that according to the Conference Board, it is estimated that the region requires approximately 8,100 new people per year for 20 years simply to maintain its current workforce.
By Sandi Krasowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on Jul 10, 2026 at 11:25
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