SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1. The federal government, as part of its overall economic development strategy, should seriously consider offering special tax relief to companies that spend a specified percentage of their payroll on training or retraining, or, alternatively, penalizing companies that do not invest in training.2. Information technology companies should establish mechanisms to ensure that the specialized skills brought by temporary workers are transferred to existing Canadian employees.
3. The pilot project should be designed so that a visa officer at a post abroad may easily determine whether or not a given job offer and a candidate's qualifications fit one of the seven job descriptions.
4. Consideration should be given to providing specific training for officers abroad in the application of the pilot project.
5. The pilot project should be monitored and evaluated on a continuous basis.
6. The government should reassess its policy regarding employment authorizations for the spouses of temporary foreign workers.
7. Visa officers abroad should be advised to assess their procedures so as to speed the process wherever possible.
8. Consideration should be given to instructing visa officers that IT jobs are very time-sensitive and should be processed on a priority basis.
9. In the context of its overall reconfiguration of overseas posts and employees, Citizenship and Immigration Canada should pay particular attention to the needs of the Canadian IT industry and the location of foreign IT workers who could potentially help in meeting those needs.
10. Citizenship and Immigration Canada should consider centralizing the processing of complex applications for foreign workers and dedicating expert staff to dealing with them.
11. Citizenship and Immigration Canada should study the feasibility of facilitating the movement of temporary foreign IT workers by using the existing regulatory exemption whereby an employment validation is not required if the employment will create or maintain significant employment benefits or opportunities for Canadian citizens or permanent residents.