Embassy - Newspaper Online.

Embassy - Newspaper Online.: "Immigration Minister Monte Solberg is winning praise from foreign students and education sector officials for his new student work policy, but the timing of the announcement means many international students will miss out on working off campus this summer.
A new immigration policy that will allow foreign students in post-secondary institutions to find off-campus work is part of a wider strategy to increase the pool of educated workers and expand the Canadian economy.

There is hope the student visa program will help fuel a population growth that will energize the economy. Canada is facing a looming labour shortage as baby boomers retire and families have fewer babies.

'We have to make Canada's immigration policy more responsive to markets and to what immigrants themselves are looking for,' says Monte Solberg, the federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, in an interview. 'If we are successful in getting many [students] to take up the program, [it] will end up providing a huge benefit to the Canadian economy. We are hopeful they will ultimately become permanent residents and that is of incalculable benefit to us.' "