View From the Legislature

When Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) was signed in 1998 it was a unique and untested concept in Canada. At that time, for all provinces except Quebec, immigration was solely in the hands of the federal government. The Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program gave to Manitoba the ability to nominate potential newcomers as a means to fill jobs that were otherwise unfilled.

The PNP was, and still very much is, an economic program. It was a way for the province to identify the types of workers that it needed to continue to provide certain services and to grow the economy. It was an initiative that was championed largely by business leaders in rural Manitoba who were struggling to fill jobs and keep their businesses growing.

The program proved to be a tremendous success and helped ensure that Manitoba was not only getting newcomers who could quickly become part of the economy but also helping ensure that those who were coming to Canada for the first time would be able to make the transition more easily. So successful was the PNP that every other province in Canada quickly followed Manitoba’s lead and now every province has a similar program.

And while the Manitoba PNP has been successful, like every program, it needs to continue to evolve and improve. Today there are different application streams, including for International Students or for those who want to purchase and run their own business with their own resources.

While the vast majority of PNP applicants move quickly into employment when they come to Manitoba, there are still support services that are often required. Many rural communities have put in place programs to provide these supports, including here in Steinbach where Eastman Immigration Services partners with the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce to offer this support.

As part of changes to the PNP, our government instituted an application fee of $500. We committed at the time of its implementation that the money raised from this fee, approximately $3 million annually, would be reinvested into the program to help pay for services such as English training and settlement services. In this way, while there is now a cost for the application process, the revenue goes back into supporting settlement services.

This past week, our government made good on that commitment and announced that the $3 million raised from the application fee would be distributed among 17 organizations providing settlement services. Eastman Immigration Services is one of those that will receive this funding.

The PNP has proven to be a more successful program than anyone could have imagined in 1998. It has helped grow rural Manitoba and our economy. And it will continue to evolve to ensure it meets the needs of the provincial economy.