With the pandemic having brought Canada’s economy — and the world’s — to a knee, the federal government and business leaders throughout the nation have embarked on an urgent effort to solve a serious problem.

Our country, despite being one of the best and brightest to live in, doesn’t have enough skilled workers. In big cities, and rural areas too.
So Ottawa has rolled out a very ambitious aim to attract 1.2 million immigrants workers to the country — and countryside — over the next three years.

One of the solutions is the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot (RNIP). Nelson’s Erin Rooney is the RNIP’s region coordinator in the West Kootenay region.

She spoke with Kootenay Co-op Radio’s Kootenay Morning current affairs show.