Dont make us pay: Northern Ontario mayors say immigration cuts hurt their cities [Video]

As the federal government looks to drastically reduce its immigration targets over the next few years, the mayors of northern Ontario’s largest cities say they need more immigrants to sustain local economies and population.

The mayors of Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay and Sudbury are calling on Ottawa to deliver on its promise to make permanent a pilot program that resettled skilled workers in their communities, saying a one-size-fits-all approach to immigration policy doesn’t benefit northern regions.

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said the now-closed rural and northern immigration pilot program allowed employers in the city to fill highly skilled positions in aircraft repair, engineering and various trades.

“It has been an enormous success,” Shoemaker said, adding that without economic immigrants such jobs would disappear from the region.

The five-year program was aimed at attracting immigrants to smaller communities across Canada, including five cities in northern Ontario, and it …