Last Updated On 25 November 2025, 9:52 AM EST (Toronto Time)
On November 24, Ontario Premier Doug Ford shifted the blame directly on the Federal government for the sudden return of thousands of Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) Express Entry Skilled Trades applications.
The issue has become one of the most unfair and emotional immigration controversies in recent provincial history, with hundreds of skilled workers protesting now outside Queen’s Park.
These workers say they followed every rule, waited years, lost legal status, and still had their applications abruptly cancelled.
As political pressure grows, Ford is now pointing the finger squarely at the federal government—even as Ontario’s own program documents outline a different set of reasons behind the mass return of applications.
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Valid Questions and Demand Raised In Question Period
During the question period, opposition MPPs pressed the government about the hundreds of skilled workers who have been protesting outside Queen’s Park after seeing their OINP applications abruptly cancelled and returned.
Many had been told to expect decisions in roughly 150 days but instead waited well over 2 years, losing work permits and stable jobs in the process.
One MPP described workers who “left everything behind” for Ontario, followed the rules, paid fees and taxes, and then saw their hopes crushed when applications were returned en masse rather than reviewed individually.
MPP also highlighted the case of Ruhan, who came to Ontario in 2018, completed advanced college programs in information technology and aerospace manufacturing.
He spent 3 years producing high-precision components in critical sectors like defence and nuclear.
When his work permit expired while he waited for a decision, he reportedly had to leave his job mid-shift despite strong employer support.
Opposition members accused the government of operating a “friends and family plan” that prioritizes well-connected applicants over rule-abiding skilled trades workers.
They demanded that the premier commit to reviewing each returned application individually to ensure legitimate cases are not punished and to provide certainty to employers who urgently need trades talent.
Immigration Minister Points To Federal Cuts In OINP Allocation
The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development provided the initial government response, urging critics to contact their federal counterparts directly.
He argued that Ontario’s ability to help workers through the OINP had been undermined because the province’s annual nomination allocation was “cut in half” this year, leaving far fewer spots to nominate candidates for permanent residence.
That claim is rooted in real federal decisions. For 2025, the federal Immigration Levels Plan slashed overall Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) admissions targets by 50% compared with 2024, dramatically reducing the number of nominations available nationwide.
Immigration analysts and legal observers have noted that this reduction has forced provinces like Ontario to be more selective, stretching processing times and intensifying competition for nomination slots.
Doug Ford Shifting Blame On Federal Government
In the follow-up exchange, Doug Ford personally took the floor and framed the entire Skilled Trades Stream crisis as a problem created by Ottawa, not Queen’s Park.
He reminded the House that immigration is constitutionally administered by the federal government and suggested that federal authorities, not his government, were responsible for “pulling the plug” on workers who had been waiting for years.
He told MPPs that he and several cabinet colleagues had been out speaking directly with the protesting workers late into Sunday night and that those workers “realize it’s the federal government” behind their situation.
Ford said he and other premiers are sending a letter to the prime minister calling on Ottawa to “fix the problem” with immigration.
He emphasized that these applicants are already trained, already working in Ontario, and are “hardworking people” whom the province needs in its labour force.
He cast himself as being on their side, contrasting his outreach with what he implied was opposition inaction.
In short, the premier’s political narrative in the question period was clear:
- Immigration authority lies with Ottawa.
- Federal cuts to provincial nomination allocations have constrained Ontario.
- The federal government “pulled the plug” on skilled trades workers after long delays.
- Ontario is pushing back by lobbying for changes and more flexibility.
However, that is only one half of the story. The other half is written in the Ontario government’s own program updates and legal notices.
What OINP Actually Said About Returning Skilled Trades Applications
Doug Ford’s comments in the legislature emphasized that federal power and allocation cuts caused or forced them to return the applications under processing.
However, the official explanation for the immediate suspension of the Express Entry: Skilled Trades Stream and the return of all applications comes directly from the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program itself.
On November 14, 2025, the OINP published a formal update announcing that the Express Entry: Skilled Trades Stream was being suspended and that all outstanding applications would be returned with a refund of fees.
Why? The program’s own review identified serious internal concerns, focused squarely on program integrity rather than on federal decisions about allocation:
Official Reasons Cited By OINP
According to the government notice and multiple legal summaries of the update, the review of the Express Entry: Skilled Trades Stream found:
- Systemic compliance and enforcement concerns related to the stream.
- Evidence of systemic misrepresentation and/or fraud connected to key eligibility criteria.
- Fraud indicators in supporting documents submitted by some applicants.
- Inconsistent verification of eligibility by the program, creating doubts about whether applicants truly met the requirements.
- Structural vulnerabilities in how the stream was designed, making it more open to misuse or manipulation.
- A risk that these vulnerabilities could undermine Ontario’s ability to use its limited nomination allocation effectively to meet real labour market needs.
Because of these findings, the Director appointed under the Ontario Immigration Act used powers in provincial regulation to:
- Immediately suspend the intake of new applications under the Express Entry: Skilled Trades Stream.
- Return all outstanding Skilled Trades Stream applications.
- Refund all application fees in full.
Nowhere in the OINP’s own explanation is there a suggestion that the federal government ordered Ontario to cancel or return these specific applications.
The decision is framed as a provincial response to internal compliance, fraud, and design problems within a particular stream.
In other words, while Ottawa’s 50% reduction in Ontario’s PNP allocation created a tighter quota environment, the OINP itself decided to halt this stream and return all applications.
Protests Grow As Skilled Workers Say They Followed The Rules
For applicants, the technical language of “compliance concerns” and “systemic misrepresentation” has real human consequences.
In the days leading up to the November 24 question period, hundreds of affected skilled trades workers — many originally from Punjab and other parts of South Asia — gathered repeatedly outside the Ontario legislature to protest the mass return of their files.
Reports indicate that over 2,600 applicants under the Express Entry Skilled Trades Stream are impacted. They say they:
- Were invited by Ontario to apply, often after years of work experience in the province.
- Paid substantial application fees, legal costs, and federal processing fees.
- Built lives in Ontario, paying taxes, raising families, and contributing to sectors like construction, manufacturing, and energy.
- Were told that typical processing time would be around 90–150 days, but experienced waits of 1–2 years or more.
Separate reporting has already noted that processing times for provincial nominees in Ontario have climbed sharply, with some skilled immigrants now facing average waits of around 20 months.
For many trades workers, the suspension arrived at the worst possible moment.
Some saw their work permits expire while their provincial nomination files sat with OINP.
When their applications were returned instead of approved, they not only lost their place in line but also lost legal status or their ability to keep working in the jobs Ontario says it desperately needs.
Applicants insist they did not misrepresent anything and argue that the mass return of files punishes legitimate candidates alongside any bad actors the review may have identified.
They are calling for:
- Transparent publication of the data and methodology behind the fraud findings.
- A mechanism to review individual cases, rather than blanket returns.
- Transitional measures such as work permit extension to protect workers who lost status while waiting.
Federal Cuts Versus Provincial Choices: Who Is Really Responsible?
The clash between Doug Ford’s rhetoric and the OINP’s written explanation boils down to two overlapping but distinct realities.
1. Ottawa Did Slash PNP Allocations
It is accurate that the federal government significantly reduced Canada’s Provincial Nominee Program targets for 2025, cutting planned PNP landings from around 110,000 to roughly 55,000 nationwide.
Ontario’s share was also halved, from about 21,500 nominations in 2024 to just 10,750 in 2025, making it much harder for the province to nominate all the workers and graduates it would like to.
This reduction has real consequences:
- Fewer nomination certificates to distribute across multiple streams.
- Longer waits for applicants as Ontario tries to manage demand.
- Strong pressure on provinces to tighten screening and focus on priority sectors.
2. OINP Itself Decided To Suspend The Skilled Trades Stream
At the same time, the decision to:
- Suspend the Express Entry: Skilled Trades Stream, and
- Return every outstanding application
was made under Ontario’s own regulatory authority, based on a provincial review that focused on misrepresentation, fraud, and structural weaknesses in the stream.
The federal government controls how many provincial nominees Ontario can send each year, but it does not design the OINP’s internal rules, eligibility checks, or stream structure.
Those are provincial choices — and it was the OINP director, not federal officers, who triggered the blanket return of Skilled Trades applications.
The reality for affected workers is that they are caught between both levels of government:
- Ottawa reduced the size of the provincial pathway they were relying on.
- Ontario redesigned and then shut down the stream they were using, citing systemic issues.
Doug Ford has chosen to highlight only the first part of that equation in his public comments.
Doug Ford’s message in the question period was that federal cuts and federal decision-making are to blame for the turmoil facing OINP Skilled Trades applicants.
There is truth in the claim that Ottawa’s 50% reduction in PNP allocation created intense pressure on Ontario’s immigration program.
But the province’s own documents make it equally clear that:
- OINP chose to suspend the Skilled Trades Stream after an internal review found widespread compliance, misrepresentation, and fraud concerns.
- The decision to return all applications and refund fees was made under Ontario’s authority, not at the direction of federal officials.
- Federal government has increased back the overall PNP allocation for 2026, so OINP could have taken longer to process the applications while offering a temporary extension for work permits if only the allocation cut was the reason.
- Skilled trades workers who followed the rules and waited years now face starting over, despite strong ties to Ontario employers and communities.
As protests continue outside Queen’s Park and applicants demand case-by-case fairness, the political battle over who is to blame — Ottawa or Queen’s Park — may matter less to them than a simple question:
Will Doug Ford actually step up to fix the mess and give them a fair, transparent path back to permanent status in the province they have already helped build?
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