Last week, the Province of Ontario launched a new pilot project for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP): the Employer Job Offer In-Demand Skills Stream.

This potentially permanent addition to OINP will help Ontario employers in the high-demand sectors of construction and agriculture to secure foreign workers.

ONIP was developed by the Government of Ontario to help fill positions that employers have been unable to fill with Canadians. While helping the province to meet economic and labour goals, the program simultaneously helps foreign workers gain permanent residency in Canada.

“Newcomers to Ontario are a valuable source of skilled labour,” says the Ontario Immigration website. “If you are an Ontario employer having difficulty finding the workers you need, Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program may be the program for you.”

With the new In-Demand Skills Stream project, foreign installers and servicers, heavy equipment operators, farmhands, greenhouse and nursery labourers, construction workers and butchers and meat handlers will be able to find employment in Ontario more easily.

These occupations were selected as the government says workers for these specific jobs are in especially in demand. Further, they say that foreign talent in these fields will help the market to improve.

“Ontario’s economic growth depends on attracting immigrants with the right skills to fill our labour market needs so that our employers and communities can thrive and excel,” says Laura Albanese, the Ontario minister of citizenship and immigration. “The new In-Demand Skills Stream under the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program will put these talents where they are needed and support Ontario’s booming construction and agriculture industries.”

For more information on the Employer Job Offer In-Demand Skills Stream, visit http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPINDEMAND.html.