‘Our regional economy is paying the price right now’
Quebec’s Minister of the French Language is expressing criticism of the federal government’s approach to temporary foreign workers.
At a press briefing at the National Assembly on Thursday, Jean-François Roberge said that Ottawa’s actions were “very clumsy” and “too tough,” especially in the province’s regions.
“Our regional economy is paying the price right now,” the minister said, according to a report from The Canadian Press (CP).
The federal government is working on further changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). In an address to the Liberal caucus in Edmonton, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that, moving forward, the TFWP “must have a focused approach that targets specific, strategic sectors and needs in specific regions,” reported CIC News. He added that the government is actively working toward these objectives.
Employers struggling with hiring
The minister’s comments come amid mounting pressure from businesses outside Montreal and Laval, many of which are struggling to fill positions and fear closures due to ongoing labour shortages.
Last year, the federal government imposed a 10% cap on the proportion of low-wage temporary foreign workers a company can employ. Roberge noted that Quebec had previously asked Ottawa to “distribute asylum seekers, to review visa issuance, and to be much stricter because many people arrive here under false pretences,” according to the CP report posted in CityNews.
According to Statistics Canada (StatCan), Quebec is currently home to more than 562,000 temporary immigrants, more than double the data from Q3 2021 (265,574).
In Canada, the total number currently stands at 3,024,216, up from 1,361,855 in Q3 2021.
As consultations on immigration planning for 2026 to 2029 began this week, Roberge reiterated his intention to lower permanent immigration thresholds, proposing annual targets of 25,000, 35,000, or 45,000 new permanent residents over the next four years. For 2025, Quebec plans to welcome approximately 64,000 permanent immigrants, up from nearly 60,000 in 2024, according to the CP report.
Concerns about TFWP changes
Industry groups have expressed concern about the impact of these policies. The Quebec Hotel Association warned that reducing the number of temporary and permanent foreign workers could “undermine several sectors of the Quebec economy, weaken economic growth, degrade the visitor experience, and jeopardise businesses that are already under pressure,” said CEO Véronyque Tremblay at the National Assembly, as cited by CP.
The association is calling for the renewal of permits for temporary foreign workers who have already been in the country for two years and for the cap to be raised from 10 per cent to 20 per cent for critical hospitality roles. It is also advocating for more international students to be welcomed into the sector.
Meanwhile, the Association restauration Québec is urging the provincial government to negotiate with Ottawa to increase the cap on temporary foreign workers in the tourism sector to 30 per cent.
The association’s brief to the National Assembly stated, “Quebec cannot afford to further weaken a sector that contributes to its economic vitality, the attractiveness of its regions, and the influence of its culture. At the very least, it must be made easier to keep temporary foreign workers currently in Quebec in the workforce,” according to the CP report.
The group also recommends that Francisation Québec establish a workplace francisation program for temporary foreign workers in the restaurant industry.
It is estimated an average of 11.3 per cent of hotel and restaurant jobs in Quebec are vacant, according to a Montreal Gazette report.
The associations asked Quebec to step up pressure on Ottawa to ease the rules and even add a grandfather clause to ensure workers can stay.
“The federal government is part of the equation,” Restaurants Canada vice-president Marie-Pier Richard told the committee. “We believe the government of Quebec can show its leadership in supporting our demands.”
Roberge said, according to the Montreal Gazette report: “The grandfather clause is very important, so we are defending businesses in the regions in this sense. But at the same time we say be careful, we can’t take in hundreds of thousands over what we have now. We have to consider our capacity to manage them.”
