AUTHOR VINAY KOCHHAR.CHANDIGARH.
Punjabis living in Canada are getting one shock after another. On one hand, about five lakh Punjabi youth in Canada are facing the threat of deportation. On the other hand, it is feared that 10 lakh jobs will be lost in Canada and five lakh of these jobs can be lost in Ontario alone.
After this statement of Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford, there is concern among the people of Punjabi origin. Doug Ford has described Alberta as the second most affected province. After that comes British Columbia. Referring to the impact of taxes imposed after Donald Trump’s swearing-in, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford said that the federal government will have to give a strong response to this.
A large number of Punjabi youth are employed
The number of job losses in Canada will directly depend on the sectors affected by taxes, but the Doug Ford government believes that this number can be between four and a half lakh to five lakh in Ontario. Ontario is a province which includes areas like Toronto, Brampton, Mississauga, Ottawa, where a large number of Punjabi youth work. Premier Doug Ford said in clear words that we all have to work as Team Canada and together prepare a policy of counter tariff on American goods.
There will be more layoffs of Punjabis
Jaswinder Singh, a thinker of the Punjabi community living in Ottawa, Canada, says that Doug Ford’s concern is justified and today a majority of Punjabi community people are employed in Ontario. The Punjabi community is quite worried about the layoff of five lakh jobs, because the Punjabi youth will be the most affected and laid off. At the same time, BC is at number three, in which the Punjabi community is in large numbers. Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria areas are prominent in this. Resident Prince Sannan there says that Punjabis are going to face a recession in Canada. There are very few jobs here and there is a long queue of Punjabi youth. If layoffs happen, then it will affect the Punjabi youth only. Punjabi youth is very worried about their future.
PR file not cleared
Earlier, in the latest data, about five lakh youth in Canada are facing the threat of deportation. The backlog of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada has been increasing continuously in the last few months. According to the latest data released on November 4, 2023, there were 1,097,000 applications in the backlog as of September 30, 2024. In which about 40 percent are of Punjabi origin. These files are not being cleared. The problem is that on one hand the work visa is going to expire and on the other hand the government is not clearing the PR file.