Keep temporary foreign worker program

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This article was published 18/06/2016 (3470 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Reform? Absolutely. Regulate? Unreservedly. Cancel completely? Not so fast.

Labour Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk (Kildonan-St. Paul) has said she hopes the temporary foreign worker program is no longer necessary and joked at a conference a year ago she plans to celebrate the day the government shuts it down.

Ms. Mihychuk’s sentiments appear to echo those of MP Bryan May, the chairman of the standing committee looking into reforming the program, which allows Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals to fill temporary labour and skill shortages when qualified Canadian citizens are not available. Mr. May has indicated the program may be scrapped altogether, a move that has been applauded in some sectors. Since May, the committee has been conducting hearings into ways to change the program to meet the demands of Canadians.

However controversial, the program does benefit the Canadian economy and serves a very real purpose. Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture industry, for example, help bring food to Canadian tables. Nannies provide much-needed and difficult-to-find long-term child care for families. Highly skilled workers can provide services to industries experiencing skill shortages. Temporary foreign workers have kept many businesses afloat in Canada, and for some workers in this province, it provides an entry point to permanent-residence status. This is not a program that should be shelved.

There are valid concerns that the program suffers from a lack of oversight. Migrant-worker organizations have suggested the program is a modern form of slavery. They cite cases where poorly paid workers were sent home because they were no longer capable of working only because they were injured on the job in Canada. Others have complained it allows employers to pay foreign workers wages lower than what they would have to pay Canadians. Labour groups are concerned companies will hire foreign workers over similarly skilled Canadians as a way to cut costs and maximize profit. All are valid complaints, but not the fault of the system itself. Instead, the problem is with regulation.

Ms. Mihychuk has suggested that indigenous groups are in opposition to the temporary foreign worker because they feel it’s time for indigenous people “to be given a chance.” Again, a valid point, but chronic unemployment is most rampant on reserves where about a third of indigenous people reside, not where foreign workers find jobs. Perhaps instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, the government should consider finding ways of attracting real jobs to First Nations communities and allowing the temporary foreign worker program to continue.

Changes made by the Harper government in 2014 were viewed as a disaster, particularly by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. However, unless the Liberals implement their own reforms by the end of this month, these changes will go into effect, further restricting access to the program. For example, employers with 10 or more staff will only be allowed to have 10 per cent of their workforce made up of low-wage temporary foreign workers as of July 1. That’s down from a cap of 30 per cent in 2014. Moreover, employers in the hospitality industry, such as hotels, restaurants and stores, cannot use the program if the unemployment rate is higher than six per cent.

In response, shortly after the election, Ms. Mihychuk promised reforms, but so far these reforms seem to be partisan in nature. The Liberal government quietly approved changes that will help Atlantic Canada’s seafood processors bring in an unlimited number of low-skilled workers to fill their seasonal jobs this year, something the Conservative changes prohibited. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for those provinces ranges from 8.3 to 12.5 per cent — higher than the national average. By no coincidence, the Liberals swept all 32 ridings in Atlantic Canada in 2015.

The temporary foreign worker program has value, and there’s no doubt it needs a reset. The bigger issue, however, is how poorly Canada’s immigration system can actively recruit new immigrants to fill our skill shortages. Maybe that’s where reform should begin.