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Enhancements to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) will improve processing times and fast-track nominations to provide job-ready, skilled workers, including international students, with opportunities to build a prosperous future in Manitoba, Premier Brian Pallister announced today.

“Immigration is a driver of economic growth, a way to address targeted labour market needs and a gateway for innovation in our economy,” said the premier. “The renewal of Manitoba’s Provincial Nominee Program will ensure our province continues to attract skilled workers and entrepreneurs with the potential to make the strongest contributions to our economy soon after their arrival in Canada.”

The MPNP has made significant contributions to Manitoba’s economy since its introduction in 1998, the premier said.

The premier noted the changes announced today are part of a new Labour Market Strategy for Immigration that focuses on:

• innovative partnerships with industry and post-secondary institutions that build pathways to employment for international students and skilled newcomers, including those in regulated occupations, to better prepare and match them to in-demand jobs in Manitoba;
• the selection of skilled workers with high potential for early and strong attachment to the labour market and who meet education, training and language requirements;
• the selection of entrepreneurs with a strong potential to establish high-investment, job-creating businesses in all regions of the province; and
• the elimination of the current MPNP backlog by April 2017 to ensure all future applicants receive a higher standard of service and are processed in less than six months.

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Click here for a document on frequently asked questions regarding Manitoba’s new Labour Market Strategy for Immigration.

On December 13, 2016, a public information session was held by Manitoba Education and Training to provide an overview of proposed improvements to the MPNP and to answer questions from stakeholders. A copy of the presentation supporting that information session is available here.

The continuing tide of economic immigration to Manitoba is being credited for the Canadian province reaching a modern-day record for population growth.

Canada’s most-central province grew by 16,848 people in the past year, according to figures released by Statistics Canada.

That 1.33 per cent population increase is a modern-day record for annual growth.

As of October 1, 2014, there’s 1,286,323 people who call Manitoba home, according to the Canadian government office.

The vast majority of immigrant families who move to Manitoba arrive through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP) for Skilled Workers.

This free initiative of the Government of Manitoba is an ongoing program; for 2015, the MPNP can “nominate” up to 5,500 skilled-worker immigrants (plus spouses and children) to receive Canadian permanent residence to settle in Manitoba.

Other highlights from the December 2014 Stats Can report include:

• Manitoba’s 1.3 per cent annual population increase was the third-highest in all of Canada, behind Alberta and Saskatchewan.
• Manitoba’s annual population growth rate has exceeded one per cent in each of the past six years.
• For the past four years, Manitoba’s annual population growth rate has far exceeded that of Canada overall.
• Manitoba’s population increase has exceeded 14,000 individuals in each of the past three years.
• Manitoba’s population growth during the past 10 years tops out at 111,661 people – breaking yet another record.
• In the past four years, Manitoba has experienced its largest modern-day immigration inflow, welcoming 58,584 people.
• About 75 per cent of Manitoba’s immigrants who arrived in the 12 months sending in October 2014 were Provincial Nominees. The rest arrived through federal immigration programs administered by Citizenship and Immigration Canada: family class (11%); refugees (9%); federal skilled workers and other economic class (4%).
• As well as the steady influx of international immigrants, Manitobans gave birth to 16,317 babies in the 12 months ending in October 2014 – the highest number since 1994/95.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) will resume intake of new applications to sponsor parents and grandparents starting January 2, 2015, as per its recent announcement. A maximum of 5,000 new applications will be accepted in 2015.

Parents and grandparents who wish to visit their family in Canada can also apply for the parent and grandparent super visa.

Precise instructions on how to complete the application, including a checklist, application forms, guidelines and information on how to prepare a PGP application, are currently available on CIC’s website.

In January 2015, Citizenship and Immigration Canada launches its new electronic system, Express Entry, to manage applications for permanent residence under certain economic immigration programs.

The Government of Canada, provinces/territories and Canadian employers will be able to select people from the Express Entry pool.

Before looking in Express Entry, employers must first make every effort to try and find a Canadian or permanent resident to fill vacant job opportunities.

Employers in Canada who cannot find a Canadian or permanent resident for a permanent job will be able to consider candidates from the pool who meet their needs.

Express Entry and the Government of Canada’s Job Bank will let eligible employers in Canada and skilled foreign nationals connect with one another more easily, making integration faster once immigrants arrive in Canada.

The Province of Manitoba has been allocated a maximum of 500 potential immigrants to endorse from a new national pool of international skilled workers who have expressed interest in immigrating to Canada.

Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s “Express Entry” system, which intends to match the education and experience of people interested in immigrating with the qualifications needed by Canadian employers, takes affect in 2014.

Manitoba’s Express Entry allocation is separate from and in addition to the allocation of 5,000 immigrants that Manitoba can nominate each year under the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program.

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Strong economic growth continues to benefit the people of Manitoba, according to new government and private-sector statistics and projections which show the province job growth and economic expansion is keeping Manitoba at the top tier of all Canadian provinces.

For example, the latest consensus forecast from nine key private-sector forecasters is that Manitoba will post the fourth best economic performance in all of Canada in 2015.

The benefit is seen throughout the province and in Manitoba’s capital city, Winnipeg, which has grown by 55,000 people over the past 10 years, with credit for the dramatic improvement going to the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP).

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In a series of meetings with community leaders, immigration advocacy groups, and stakeholders in Winnipeg this week, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander has advocated increased francophone immigration across Canada.

Alexander said communities outside Quebec should be targeted in particular for francophone immigration. The Government of Canada is committed to increasing the French-speaking immigrant population outside Quebec, and has established the Francophone Significant Benefit Program for employers, which allows for LMIA-exempt hiring of skilled French-speaking/bilingual professionals.

“Our government is proud to promote Francophone immigration to Canada, which will help to ensure our communities remain vibrant and prosperous. We will continue to work with our partners to attract Francophone immigrants with the skills our labour market and economy needs,” Alexander said.

While in Winnipeg, Mr. Alexander met with the local Francophone Immigration Network and other stakeholders to discuss francophone immigration and other local needs. The minister also visited the Accueil Francophone and met with young Manitobans who participated in a program of the Conseil de développement économique des municipalités bilingues du Manitoba. These two organizations provide services and programs to help francophone immigrants settle and enter the job market.

The government health authority in the Canadian province of Manitoba has contracted a headhunting firm to attract, recruit and hire physicians to fill job vacancies for family doctors in Eastern Manitoba.

The area, which includes the towns of Ashern, Lac du Bonnet, Pinawa, Pine Falls, Teulon and Whitemouth, often relies on international medical graduates to fill employment opportunities.

Read news story in Winnipeg Free Press.

“It’s like a dream,” says former Athens Symphony cellist Stefanos Boukis of his new home in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Greek emigrants Boukis and wife Lia Andronikou say their dreams have come true through the Manitoba Provincial Nominee Program (MPNP).

The MPNP’s easy process of immigration to Canada for skilled workers and entrepreneurs allowed the family to move to Manitoba, buy a house, create a music school, and enjoy the opportunity to grow their family in a safe and stable country.

Read more success stories of Greeks moving to Manitoba through the MPNP:

• Winnipeg Greek community swells due to financial crisis back home
• Greek musicians sing Winnipeg’s praises