But employers say program needed for staffing purposes, quality services
British Columbia Premier David Eby is calling for the cancellation or significant reform of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), citing concerns that the current system is contributing to ongoing challenges in the province.
“We can’t have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks," he said in a CBC report. "We can’t have an immigration system that outpaces our ability to build schools and housing. And we can’t have an immigration program that results in high youth unemployment.”
Eby’s comments followed those of federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in calling for the TFW program to be scrapped, blaming it for “shutting our own youth out of jobs.” The TFW program allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers for temporary positions when no Canadian workers are available.
In May, a group of academics called on the federal government to ensure that migrant agricultural workers arriving in Canada through the TFWP are provided with adequate housing. Meanwhile, the rate of youth unemployment in Canada has reached levels beyond what could be expected, according to a CIBC report.
Employer calls TFWP 'political football'
One employer in B.C. said that eliminating the TFWP altogether would be bad for Canada as a whole.
“Eliminating the foreign workers program for the hospitality industry … in a year, you’re going to see lower services, you’re not going to get quality service, food will take longer because we’re not going to have the staff,” said Brad Macleod, president and managing partner of C-Lovers Fish and Chips in Langley, in a report from The Canadian Press (CP).
Macleod also said that employers hiring temporary foreign workers through the program are spending a lot of money to bring the workers to Canada.
“When people say we’re doing it for cheap labour, it’s not,” he said in the CP report posted in City News.
“It costs us $5,000 to $8,000 to bring in a foreign worker. We pay the same wage. It’s become a political football by the government using it for their mismanagement of housing, and now they’re throwing this all on.”
Previously, a United Nations (UN) official said that the TFWP “serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes asymmetries of power that favour employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights”.
Concerns about fraud with foreign worker program
Eby raised concerns about fraud within the program, particularly in Surrey, where he said serious issues have been reported, according to the CBC report.
Neera Agnihotri, an immigration consultant whose firm was cited in forged Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs), told CBC that fraud is “very common” and that the TFW program has been exploited by recruiters and some immigration consultants. Fraudsters have used fake LMIAs to target foreign workers, some of whom have paid tens of thousands of dollars under the false promise of legal employment in Canada.
“Everybody has taken advantage. And the biggest culprit, it’s the government. You know exactly what’s happening right under your nose. What are you doing about it?” she said.
Despite the issues, Agnihotri said the program should not be eliminated entirely, noting that some companies rely on foreign workers for jobs that Canadians and permanent residents do not want to do. “We have to remember, Canada lives and thrives on immigration,” she said in the report.
