Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 18, 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A4 A 4 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2014 TOP NEWS winnipegfreepress. com 204- 885- 3330 ASDowns. com ALL YOU CAN EAT JUST $ 23 95 Glen & Tommy win $ 300 each for just $ 1.60 in bets on new Jackpot 6! Th u rsday's ursday's Prim e Ri b Buff e t Prime Rib Buffet features French Cuisine " Better than a lottery" Get a lucky streak going in the huge VLT lounge! 9 AM - 2 AM Congrats ! CAN $ 39 95 DINE FOR 2 With this coupon at any Thursday Prime Rib buffet. Reservations req'd | Expires March 20/ 14. 204- 885- 3330 FREE WAGERS ON THE JACKPOT 6 this Saturday, Feb. 22/ 14 8 With this coupon between 11: 30 AM & 1: 30 PM Present at VLT Cage. One per person ( Celebrating Festival du Voyageur) . Tourtiere . French lemon Chicken . Split pea & ham soup . French " peasant" beets . Onion rings & much more . You pick 6 numbers . Tickets cost $ 2 each . You can win millions for $ 2 . 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Entrants 17 years of age or younger must have parental consent to enter. Full contest rules available by contacting the Winnipeg Free Press. No purchase necessary. CONTESTS IN THEATRES FEBRUARY 28 Wednesday, February 26th, 7: 00pm Landmark Grant Park For your chance to win go to www. winnipegfreepress. com/ contests Win Passes to the Advance Screening of WFP SCAN TO ENTER & SEE TRAILER NON- STOP W INKLER - The first immigrants started to arrive here in 1997 under a pilot project that would eventually be called the Provincial Nominee Program. Manitoba's population was stagnant at the time and on the verge of slipping back. A defeatist attitude was setting in. Some people said Manitoba would never grow because no one wanted to live in this climate. The pilot project that started in Winkler, and suddenly landed scores of immigrants to fill jobs that couldn't be filled locally, shook the province from its doldrums. The population started to grow again and Manitoba's Provincial Nominee Program ( PNP) became the most successful immigration venture in the country. But today, almost 17 years later, the program is tanking in the very place it began. Companies in Winkler and Morden, eight kilometres apart, are begging for workers again. Major local employers like Meridian Manufacturing and Triple E Recreational Vehicles have Help Wanted signs posted on highways leading into their communities. " We need all kinds of different workers and we are trying all kinds of different ways to find those workers," said Bernie Thiessen, vice- president of Meridian Manufacturing. " The problem is governments keep changing the program ( PNP) to the point it's almost useless to us." The figures back him up. As late as 2009, this area was still getting about 1,000 immigrants per year. But just 400 arrived last year, and about 225 for the first three quarters of 2013. Five years ago, 27 per cent of immigrants to Manitoba were settling outside Winnipeg. The rate is now 15 per cent in the latest figures for 2013. The PNP selects skilled foreign workers with the potential to contribute to Manitoba's labour market. Close to 80 per cent of immigrants arrive in Manitoba through the PNP. The problem, say business people such as Thiessen and local mayors, is politicians keep fiddling with the program. In 2010, the NDP government passed Bill 22, its Worker Recruitment and Protection Act. While the bill has provided immigrants more protection from shady immigration brokers, it also stops licensed immigration brokers from acting as job recruiters. They can't even mention jobs without losing their licence. But the first question any immigrant asks is, " Where will I work?" So immigrant workers began bypassing Manitoba for Saskatchewan and Alberta. Next it was the Harper government's turn. First, it capped the number of PNP immigrants a province could obtain. In Manitoba's case, the cap is at about 5,000 approvals, plus their families. The cap meant Manitoba lost its head start and other provinces have caught up. Then in 2011, the Harper government raised English- language standards on newcomers to a Level 4 in the International English Language Testing System. The problem is that excludes many welders and mechanics, the type of employee needed in the booming manufacturing sector in the Pembina Valley. The immigrants being approved are those with better English skills and they tend to be professionals such as engineers, Internet techies, economists and lawyers. They have been arriving in the Pembina Valley but the retention rate is low. In an email, the province blamed Ottawa's cap on PNP approvals for reduced immigration, plus smaller family sizes among immigrants and longer processing times by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. The provincial spokeswoman said the province's Bill 22 has ensured the PNP process is transparent and fair and supports employers in international recruitment. On the federal side, an email from Citizenship and Immigration Canada defended its new language requirement, saying language " is a key factor in the success of new citizens to establish themselves both economically and socially in Canada." It added that minimum language skills are necessary for health and safety reasons, " especially in the low- skilled occupations." However, the Harper government is also drafting an approach used in New Zealand it hopes to implement in 2105 that would pool and filter those immigrants who meet Canada's labour needs more quickly. Winkler Mayor Martin Harder said what the federal government may not know is all the major companies such as Triple E, Meridian and Convey- All Industries have their own at- work English- training programs for immigrants. Harder planned to discuss immigration when he met with Premier Greg Selinger on Feb. 10. Winkler has added about 250 units of entry- level housing in the form of sideby- sides and townhouses for newcomers. bill. redekop@ freepress. mb. ca Next: Morden finds a way JOIN THE CONVERSATION " If the federal government is concerned about immigrants' language proficiency, isn't funding training in Canada a better solution than raising the language requirements of applicants?" Go to winnipegfreepress. com and add your comments to the conversation Manitoba and its provincial nominee program used to have the edge in recruiting new workers for the province's smaller centres. Starting today, rural reporter Bill Redekop takes a close- up look at the state of the program almost 17 years after its inception. Newcomers needed to fill jobs By Bill Redekop Tide of immigrants slows to trickle after rule changes ' We need all kinds of different workers and we are trying all kinds of different ways to find those workers," said. " The problem is governments keep changing the program ( PNP) to the point it's almost useless to us' - Bernie Thiessen, vice- president of Meridian Manufacturing ABOVE: Winkler's Meridian Manufacturing develops grain bins, among other products. It has had trouble attracting more workers. BELOW: Winkler Mayor Martin Harder said the major companies in the area all have English- training courses for immigrants. KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES ( ABOVE), RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ( BELOW) A_ 04_ Feb- 18- 14_ FP_ 01. indd A4 2/ 17/ 14 8: 33: 49 PM ;