Poilievre calls for federal government to end temporary foreign worker program 

2025/09/05 Leave a comment

Some initial comments on the CPC proposal:

…The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), a small-business lobby group, condemned Mr. Poilievre’s proposal to scrap the program, saying that there were “zero” employers of entry-level workers who use the program for cheap labour. 

“We have many parts of Canada – particularly in rural and remote communities – with very few available entry-level workers for jobs on which local people depend,” said Dan Kelly, president of the CFIB, in a post on X.

Mr. Poilievre’s criticism of the program as exploitative has been voiced for years by international human-rights organizations and migrants’ rights groups. 

…In a recent interview with The Globe, Mikal Skuterud, a labour economist at the University of Waterloo, said that immigration is not the main driver of higher youth unemployment. Instead, he pointed to weak economic conditions and a sharp reduction in job vacancies that are making it tougher for people to secure employment.

Source: Poilievre calls for federal government to end temporary foreign worker program

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This Ontario resort can’t find enough employees. Businesses say cuts to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program are to blame

2025/08/14 Leave a comment

Predictable business lobbying. Valid critique by economists below:

…Economists and worker advocates say the call for more foreign labour by employers points to a deeper problem.

“This whole idea of a labour shortage is an employer-driven narrative,” said Katherine Scott, a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Many employers have grown accustomed to the ceaseless supply of temporary foreign labour and international students to fill low-wage jobs in fast-food restaurants, retail, warehouses, factories and gig work.

The number of foreign workers in Canada’s $100-billion food service sector shot up by more than 4,000 per cent between 2016 and 2023.

Scott argued that while some businesses in rural areas are indeed struggling to find staff, many employers seeking to hire temporary foreign workers are multimillion-dollar corporations like McDonald’s and Tim Hortons.

“These employers have not changed up their business model to offer higher wages, better working conditions and more training.”

The workers’ temporary work permits tie the employee to a single employer, making it challenging for the worker to switch jobs or speak out against abuse in the case of exploitation as it could cost the worker their job and status in Canada.

Chris Ramsaroop, an activist with Justicia for Migrant Workers, said without permanent status, the threat of deportation still hangs over any worker who complains about abusive conditions, making workers vulnerable.

Both Kelly from CFIB and Higginson from Restaurants Canada agree that clearer and faster pathways to permanent status for temporary foreign workers are essential to ensure they receive the same protections as other Canadian workers and to retain much-needed labour.

“We’ve been calling on the fact that we need to look at faster, more efficient ways to issue permanent residency to people that are brought in on a temporary basis because we want them to stay,” Higginson said. 

Ramsaroop argues employers must address labour needs by improving wages and conditions for all workers.

“Precarious immigration and precarious workers should never be the solution or the business model of any employer, of any boss.”

Source: This Ontario resort can’t find enough employees. Businesses say cuts to Canada’s temporary foreign worker program are to blame

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Kelly: Fix, don’t gut, the temporary foreign worker program

2024/09/04 Leave a comment

The CFIB view. Like Century Initiative and others, having to adjust to the new public opinion environment that their previously successful lobbying and pressures helped create.

It will be interesting to see how far a future Conservative government would restrict access to low-wage temporary workers given their sympathies with SMEs (large companies not so much):

…Canada needs to have an adult conversation about the labour market and admit that there are many jobs and locations where there aren’t enough Canadians to fill the gaps. TFWs can help supplement the Canadian labour force and protect Canadian jobs. I’ve spoken to several restaurant owners who have said they can find Canadian young people willing to work as servers in the front of house, but can find no one willing to staff in the kitchen. Hiring a couple of experienced cooks from overseas helps them ensure there is work for their Canadian crew.  

As for taking jobs away from students, we need a big reality check. While students may be available for work during July and August, how does the business owner staff a day shift in September or October without people available for work year-round? 

There are legitimate criticisms of the program. Temporary workers are often hired by employers who really need permanent staff. But this is where there is large agreement between employers and migrant groups—and even the United Nations report. Creating greater pathways between the TFW program and permanent residency is a way to fix many of the programs’ defects. For years, the CFIB has lobbied government to shift elements of the TFW program to an Introduction to Canada program where TFWs can shift to permanent status after one-to-two years in Canada. This would allow the worker to learn the job, put down some roots in an area of Canada they may not have otherwise, and then have full labour-market mobility at the end. We see this as a way to balance the relationship between workers and employers. 

The vast majority of employers use the TFW program as a last resort in their hiring process and treat their workers—both Canadian and foreign—well. I’ve spoken to many employers who have built fantastic relationships with their foreign workers, and provided help to give them a great start in Canada. Shrinking the program is unlikely to help any Canadian looking for work, but will certainly add to the immense pressures already facing many of Canada’s small businesses.

Dan Kelly is the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Source: Kelly: Fix, don’t gut, the temporary foreign worker program

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Federal government planning sharp cut to low-wage stream of temporary foreign worker program, sources say

2024/08/16 Leave a comment

Highlighting the contrasting views between a business group and the more objective Mike Moffatt:

…Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said temporary foreign worker programs have been around for decades and have frequently been tightened or loosened over the years based on evolving labour-market needs.

He said the government’s moves to ease access to the program in 2022 were entirely justified at the time.

“There’s absolutely no question that coming out of the pandemic, the labour market was broken. There were hundreds of thousands of vacant positions, particularly in lower-skilled occupational categories, that desperately needed filling,” he said.

Mr. Kelly said he understands that Ottawa is now under pressure to cap access to the low-wage stream, but also urged the government to find the right balance.

“The challenge for government is I think most of them know that the politically popular solution is at odds with the economically viable solution,” he said. “Yes, the labour market has cooled a bit in Canada, but if we take out the temporary foreign worker program, then you better not complain about the line at the local restaurant or the increase in menu prices.”

Mike Moffatt, an assistant professor of business, economics and public policy at Western University who has previously advised the Liberal cabinet, said the 2022 changes went too far. He said reducing the use of the temporary foreign worker program would be good for wages in Canada, would help students find work and would encourage businesses to innovate.

He said he questions why fast-food restaurants in college towns such as London, Ont., are using the program.

“We’ve got thousands of students, thousands of international students, and we can’t find somebody to work at a Dairy Queen next to a college? It just doesn’t seem reasonable to me,” he said. “I think we have lost the plot here.”

Source: Federal government planning sharp cut to low-wage stream of temporary foreign worker program, sources say

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Ottawa seeks job market clarity – Labour market survey

2015/02/10 Leave a comment

Good course correction:

The $8-million survey, which was announced several months ago and is just now under way, marks a return to more traditional methods after the Conservative government ran into criticism for relying heavily on a much less expensive private software program.

The Globe and Mail revealed that the government’s claims were the result of a problem with the data, which included jobs from the classified site Kijiji where the same job can be reposted many times, producing a false impression of a rising demand for labour.

When jobs from Kijiji were removed from the data set, the rise in job vacancies essentially disappeared.

Yet one year later, government officials and other labour market observers continue to struggle with the best way to measure the job market in an age when traditional job ads have been replaced with online job boards.

Two federal departments – Finance Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada – continue to pay for a database of online job ads from Wanted Analytics. The company runs software that scans online job boards as well as individual company websites to produce a database of jobs. The database it provides to government departments can be altered to include or remove various sources, including Kijiji.

Finance Canada renewed its contract with Wanted in December for another year at a cost of $18,250.

A Finance Canada spokesperson said the department uses the data along with other sources – such as Statistics Canada and the Bank of Canada – as part of its analysis of the labour market.

Employment and Social Development Canada said it does not use the database for labour market projections.

“This data can still be useful to the department to better understand current labour market conditions as they pertain to online job postings,” ESDC spokesperson Simon Rivet wrote in an e-mail.

Dan Kelly, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said his organization supports the new survey even though some employers complain that answering questionnaires is a form of red tape.

Mr. Kelly said he expects the new survey will support the view of employers that labour shortages are real and that measures such as the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, while controversial, are needed.

“Ultimately we need better sources that everyone can rely on and accept as a true state of affairs on the labour market,” he said.

Now all we need is to reinstate the Census.

Ottawa seeks job market clarity – The Globe and Mail.

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CFIB wants temporary foreign workers program replaced by special visa

2014/12/03 3 Comments

Interesting change in tone, and linkage to permanent residency:

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is calling on Ottawa to replace its controversial temporary foreign worker program with a visa that would provide a path to permanent residence for entry-level employees from abroad.

The organization says in a report released today it’s proposing the Introduction to Canada Visa that would address labour shortages for small businesses.

CFIB president and CEO Dan Kelly says the temporary foreign worker program has been legitimately criticized for using TFWs to fill permanent labour market needs.

He adds that small businesses would much rather hire permanent workers, but the immigration system doesn’t allow them to hire people with entry-level skills. The Canadian economy needs workers at all skill levels, Kelly says.

But still hard to see why we need to encourage low-skilled immigration.

CFIB wants temporary foreign workers program replaced by special visa – Macleans.ca.

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EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report

2014/11/21 Leave a comment

One sometimes wonder how Minister’s can say such things with a straight face, or whether they have any appreciation for more comprehensive analysis of policy options.

It is one thing to make a policy choice where political and other priorities play a role, but relying on the analysis of one interest group without a more independent assessment (that’s the public service role) is irresponsible.

No policy change should be done without such analysis. Abdication of Ministerial role.

And of course, the Government would not implement a policy suggestion from those on the left without conducting serious analysis:

Joe Oliver told the parliamentary finance committee that Ottawas decision to introduce the measure was based on the research of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

“The department does not analyze every measure that we introduce,” Oliver told the hearing as he responded to a question.

“If we don’t do it, we look to those who have expertise and we did in this case to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.”

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business estimated the credit would generate 25,000 person-years of employment over the next several years.

A job that employs a worker for one year amounts to one “person-year.”

But Canada’s parliamentary budget office has argued the credit will create only 800 net new jobs in 2015-16, while a freeze in employment insurance premiums could cost the economy 10,000 jobs over the same period.

The budget watchdogs study said that overall, the credit would create about 1,000 “person-years” of employment with a price tag of $555,000 for each person-year.

EI rate cut: Ottawa skipped internal study in favour of interest group report – Politics – CBC News.

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Temporary foreign workers: Canada needs fewer guests – and more citizens

2014/05/20 Leave a comment

Globe editorial:

What should Mr. Kenney do?

Study the issue: Take the time needed to get this right. Commission a group of experts and give them at least six months. Bring the other parties in, and borrow their best ideas. Don’t just introduce legislation in the next few weeks, backed up by nothing more than a thin press release and no actual evidence, and try to hustle it through Parliament. Learn from the fiasco of the Fair Elections Act.

Be principled: A temporary worker program should be for jobs that are temporary. There’s a logic to bringing in seasonal agricultural workers. There may be a logic to some highly skilled workers being brought in under the program, in cases where no trained Canadians exist or where the job is temporary. But burger flippers?

Shrink the program: Make it smaller. Much smaller. Cap the number allowed in each year. Let Canada’s labour market work. If employers in low-wage fields find that they have to offer compensation in excess of minimum wage to attract short-order cooks, customer-service agents and retail sales people, that’s a good thing. It will lead to higher wages for people at the low end of the wage scale, and it will also spur innovation and productivity gains. We want the market to work and to self-correct as it is supposed to, with a tight labour supply in one area of the country forcing up wages, thereby drawing in the underemployed, be they part-time students from down the road or the unemployed from across the country.

Give temporary workers more rights: Shrink the program – but expand their rights. Why not give them the right to change jobs, and even complete labour mobility within Canada, just like Canadians? Give them the power to fight back against abuse and raise their own wages.

More citizens, fewer guests: Canada was built by immigrants who became citizens, not visitors who went home. That’s our future, too.

Citizenship Bill C-24 at Committee goes in other direction, by making citizenship harder to get and no longer providing credit for time spent in Canada as temporary foreign workers.

Temporary foreign workers: Canada needs fewer guests – and more citizens – The Globe and Mail.

Interestingly, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business includes in its recommendations on Temporary Foreign Workers a pathway to citizenship, while the government’s Bill C-24 makes this more difficult given removal of partial credit for pre-Permanent Residents time:

•  Ending the moratorium on restaurants

• Creating a pathway to permanent residence for all TFWs

• A Bill of Rights for TFWs

• Stricter enforcement of existing rules

• An accredited TFW stream for trusted employers

• Matching TFW/Canadian wages by employer

• Maximum 1:1 ratio of TFWs to Canadians

• Allowing permanent immigration for those in entry-level jobs

• Ensuring other government programs (eg. EI) address need for entry-level workers.

CFIB urges feds to end moratorium, enforce rules, protect TFWs’ rights – National Scene – Daily Business Buzz.

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