With the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP) program slated to end in August 2024, Sudbury Liberal MP Viviane Lapointe has pledged to advocate for it to become permanent.
“You have a champion in myself, in (Nickel Belt Liberal) MP (Marc Serré), as well as mayor and council to ensure this program becomes permanent for Northern Ontario,” she said during a Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce luncheon keynote address on Wednesday.
“The need and demand is there.”
Lapointe cited the program as a priority during a meeting with Public Services and Procurement Minister Filomena Tassi last year, around the time Greater Sudbury city council began advocating for the program to become permanent.
Last year’s RNIP program resulted in approximately 500 newcomers calling Greater Sudbury home, Lapointe said, with many of them attracted in part by the path it establishes toward permanent residency.
Citing Mayor Paul Lefebvre’s goal of seeing Greater Sudbury hit a population of 200,000 by 2050, Lapionte said RNIP “will be a key strategy to that goal.”
Lapointe’s advocacy pledge came as music to the ears of chamber president Anthony Davis, who credited the program as being “a huge success.”
“It’s integral for our city to be poised to grow, and the only way we’re going to be poised to grow is if we have the people to do it,” he told Sudbury.com after Lapointe’s speech.
Davis owns Greater Sudbury Plumbing & HVAC, which has two employees through the RNIP program.
Despite its successes, he said RNIP isn’t perfect.
“In both of these situations (with employees through RNIP) ... they both had to approach me, and say hey, how do I get a place?” he said, adding that housing is “the biggest hurdle” newcomers to Greater Sudbury face.
The program could use someone to ease people into housing, which is particularly challenging in today’s climate of low vacancy rates.
With RNIP a pilot program, Lapointe said they’re seeking ways to make the program better by the time it becomes permanent, which is her goal.
“We know that there are still challenges and some gaps in the program we need to address,” she said.
“We need to open up more housing, more affordable housing, especially for first-time buyers and newcomers to Canada.”
After cracking down on foreign ownership of property, Lapointe said they recently eased back in order to allow newcomers to purchase homes.
Housing in general is an ongoing need, and she said the federal government is working with provincial and municipal governments to create more housing, particularly affordable housing.
The balance of Lapointe’s speech highlighted optimism regarding Greater Sudbury’s economy, particularly as it relates to critical minerals fuelling battery-electric vehicles.
The Critical Mineral Strategy, she said, is “a game changer.”
“Sudbury and Northern Ontario resources and expertise will undoubtedly be a world leader for sourcing these critical minerals, for developing technologies and exporting our knowledge.”
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
