QUEBEC - Canada's premiers have reached an agreement on labour mobility they hope will make it easier for Canadians to work anywhere in the country beginning next year.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Manitoba Premier Gary Doer emerged from a meeting of the Council of the Federation on Thursday to say it's important for people's professional qualifications to be recognized everywhere in Canada.

"We believe working people and their families want to have a situation where they do not have to go through 13 separate accreditation processes but rather one accreditation process," Doer told a news conference in the Chateau-Frontenac Hotel.

"We believe that a teacher is a teacher, a nurse is a nurse, a welder is a welder and we believe that will be accomplished with the accreditation acceptance of each of our jurisdictions."

Charest said the premiers made a "very firm decision" to have full labour mobility - with a few exemptions - across Canada next year.

Doer said provincial labour ministers will meet in the fall to ensure they meet the targeted date.

The internal trade agreement between provinces and territories will be amended by Jan. 1, 2009, he added.

"We are building upon the great success of bilateral and trade agreements internally in Canada over the last number of years," he said.

He added that when the premiers meet again in August 2009 there will be a full agreement by the provincial governments to accept credentials from other provinces.

The 13 provincial and territorial leaders are meeting through Friday and are expected to discuss other topics, including climate change.

On Thursday, the premiers also called on Ottawa to continue its efforts to reduce the country's backlog of unprocessed visa applications.

Charest said the premiers would like to see the total number of requests reduced to 200,000 by 2011. There are currently about 900,000 on the books, he added.

Doer, meanwhile, said he and his colleagues also reached an agreement on dispute resolution.

The enforcement mechanism has a range of penalties, reaching as high as $5 million for larger provinces, he said.

"I'm confident this is a good way to resolve disputes on internal trade," he said.

"This is a very similar panel mechanism to arbitration."

On labour mobility, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said his province can't fill some 100,000 jobs, many of which require skilled individuals.

He said he is not concerned the deal will lure even more workers out of Ontario for the prosperous western provinces.

"Given the price of housing in Alberta and the price of housing in Ontario, I think we've become very competitive all of a sudden, for workers who find themselves in Alberta who may want to have a bit more pay that they can keep at the end of the day," McGuinty said.

"I'm not worried about Alberta and B.C., I'm worried about India, China, the U.S. and Europe."

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, meanwhile, said his province has been successful in attracting workers because of its strong economy and low taxes.

He also said the number of international immigrants heading to Alberta is on the rise.

Still, with predictions of another 400,000 jobs to be filled in the province over the next decade, they will be "critically short," Stelmach said.

Thursday's deal "brings some common sense to labour mobility," he said.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall told reporters he's pleased with the agreement because his booming province is also facing a people shortage.

"We want to make it easier for people to move to the province, to buy their Rider jerseys and join the excitement in Saskatchewan," Wall said.

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