Ontario needs regional immigration strategy, new report suggests

TORONTO — Ontario’s small communities could benefit from the influx of immigrants who are disproportionately settling in the Greater Toronto Area, a new report said Thursday as it urged all levels of government to address the imbalance.

The study from the Conference Board of Canada said the number of newcomers settling in Ontario last year starkly illustrates the disparity between the GTA and the rest of the province, noting the current settlement levels have potential to strain the resources of the provincial capital while preventing other regions from reaping rich economic rewards.

The report found that 106,000 immigrants settled in and around Toronto in 2018, representing 77 per cent of all new arrivals in the province. That figure eclipsed the total number of immigrants who landed in all four Atlantic provinces, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined, it said. This left the remaining 23 per cent of newcomers to spread out over the rest of the province, much of which the board argued is in need of new arrivals to fuel the local economy.

Board chief economist Pedro Antunes said Ontario’s low unemployment rate suggests a particularly tight labour market, a trend that also applies to the country as a whole. “We know as we go forward that without immigration we’d actually see a flatline on the total number of workers in Canada,” Antunes said in an interview. “That would be a very dire picture in terms of being able to support economic growth.”

Those market conditions are exacerbated by factors such as a low birth rate, an aging workforce and high levels of departures from some communities, the report found.

Antunes said economic growth is what will allow provinces to generate revenues, which in turn help pay for key services such as health care and education. Failure to sustain or grow those revenues, he said, should raise serious concerns for all residents.

The report also said a look at the province’s projected dependency ratio, or proportion of people in the workforce to those outside it, also emphasizes the need to ease pressure on the labour market.

The report called for Ontario to refine its Immigrant Nominee Program, the official channel through which immigrants and international students can apply for permanent residency.