ST. PAUL – During a delegation on Oct. 10 at the regular County of St. Paul council meeting, MLA Scott Cyr discussed a variety of issues concerning the St. Paul region with council members and administration.
One of the items of discussion included the Rural Renewal Stream (RRS) program.
Linda Sallstrom, Economic Development Officer (EDO) for the STEP Economic Development Alliance, was also present during the discussions.
Sallstrom said RRS has been a great program that allows employers and immigrants to reduce red tape, and has increased employment in the region, in addition to the advantages it provided for newcomers to gain their permanent residency.
“However, as we’ve highlighted before, the program came with no provincial support,” said Sallstrom. “The [designated] communities are left to fend for themselves and figure out the processes on their own,” including setting up the program and its implementation. In addition, communities need to learn how the process interacts and aligns with the Alberta Advantage Immigration Program (AAIP).
There are many processes and pieces to understand, and the amount of time spent on the project detracts from the EDO’s ability to focus on other areas of economic development, such as investment attraction, according to Sallstrom.
Ultimately, municipalities, EDOs, and workforce consultants are not fully equipped or properly prepared to deal with immigration-related matters.
Cyr acknowledged the concerns, noting that the EDO and municipalities have become immigration experts when they shouldn’t have.
The MLA said the federal government handles almost every part of the program, including immigration, and that permanent residency “seems to be a real issue right now.” The federal government is a couple years behind, said Cyr, and as a result many people are opting to abandon their applications and switch to the RRS as a pathway for immigration, moving to rural areas to do so.
He acknowledged that this is putting pressure on the program, and “We’re going to probably end up with very few of them actually staying in rural [Alberta],” which is contrary to the program’s purpose.
“That’s one thing I would say that we need to use caution on.”
Cyr said he hopes the federal government can deal with immigration issues and reduce strain on the whole system. He asked that a letter of concern be sent to him, so he could bring the topic before the Alberta government.
