B.C. is joining other provinces in asking Ottawa for more autonomy over immigration matters in a bid to address the labour shortage.

B.C.91裸聊视频檚 minister responsible for immigration, Nathan Cullen, said the province is pushing for over 10,000 new immigrants to come into the province through the provincial nominee program (PNP) to address its medical staff shortages.

91裸聊视频淩ight now we91裸聊视频檙e capped at 7,000 but we want to go up to 10,000 a year and we think we can handle even more than that,91裸聊视频� Cullen said.

A meeting, which took place in New Brunswick on July 28, saw provincial immigration ministers meet with their federal counterpart, Sean Fraser, to address this issue of labour shortage and seek greater control over the immigration system.

Currently, in Canada, Quebec is the only province that has autonomy over setting its own immigration levels established through the Canada-Qu茅bec Accord signed in 1991.

The rest of the provinces are regulated through federal immigration law mandates.

91裸聊视频淚f Ottawa allocated us more people [through PNP] we could bring in more nurses,91裸聊视频� Cullen said.

In B.C. there91裸聊视频檚 a need for more 100,000 skilled professionals, said Cullen. While a couple years ago B.C. focused on getting in tech professionals through PNP as part of its economic immigration, it now intends to focus on medical professionals.

91裸聊视频淲hen we talk about the nursing and the doctor crisis, immigration is clearly going to be part of the solution because we just simply can91裸聊视频檛 train up fast enough the number of doctors and nurses we need, that91裸聊视频檚 going to take time.91裸聊视频�

Cullen said B.C. is pitching to sponsor medical professionals to come into the country through job offers.

91裸聊视频淟anding with a job is one of the better ways to be successful in a new country,91裸聊视频� Cullen said.

The province has already seen a high success rate through this method, the minister added, with over 78,000 sponsored immigrants, 95 per cent of whom become citizens down the road.

91裸聊视频淭hat was our pitch to Ottawa, let us increase this because it is a cost-neutral program, the taxpayer does not pay a dime for it and it brings in the people that we need and desperately want,91裸聊视频� he said.

Provinces getting more control over immigration can also help with easing the processing backlogs faced by the federal system, said Cullen.

There is also an issue of existing immigrant medical professionals who are stuck in the rut of obtaining licenses, Cullen said, attributing the delays to the accreditation colleges. Canada has a historically long waiting period for immigrating medical practitioners to obtain their licenses here, which results in provinces losing out on these professionals. Cullen said the province is working with accreditation colleges to address this issue as well.

91裸聊视频淚91裸聊视频檝e seen an attitudinal shift and we91裸聊视频檙e seeing it already in the way [accreditation colleges] are accrediting people but our government has promised them and the public that we91裸聊视频檙e going to be much more aggressive on these colleges that the accreditation in terms of timeliness and transparency and fairness.91裸聊视频�