Companies received approval to fill around 240,000 positions in 2023 – more than double what was permitted in 2018
This is how you keep productivity low. Instead of spending money on equipment and training to get Canadian workers to do more per hour, hire TFWs to do less. Extract the difference in profit.
Oh and the TFW program undermines the general public’s trust in the skilled immigration program since many people aren’t even aware there’s a difference. They see immigrants come in, keep wages low, push housing up (all else being equal), they conclude immigration bad. Anti immigration agitators don’t even need to work to create propaganda, they can just point to the obvious.
I absolutely despise temporary work visas. All new Canadians should flow through the regular immigration process - tying residency to a specific position gives the employer immense power over the temporary worker and erodes the power of other employees.
Conservatives bitch and moan about immigration in general but TFW programs are the real driver to devalue employee power.
Conservatives bitch and moan about immigration in general but TFW programs are the real driver to devalue employee power.
Conservative voters bitch and moan. Conservative donors and conservative politicians make sympathetic noises, but when they’re on the record the won’t actually say they’ll do a goddamn thing about immigration. Listen to what Poillevre actually says, rather than what his fanbase hears: he never actually says he’ll cut immigration, only that “immigration will reflect the needs of the Canadian economy”.
Which means let’er rip!!
It’s ridiculous and clearly used as a way of exploiting people.
If the work is temporary, the visa shouldn’t be. These workers should all be welcome to relocate here whenever they want.
There should at minimum be a 6-12 month float after termination where there is zero change to residency obligations compared to when they were employed. That would allow the worker to seek other employment locally
That is a fair sounding consideration - I think we’d want to look at the knock on effects but it doesn’t sound terrible as a compromise… in general though, having a separate system for temporary work just lowers worker empowerment.
The TFW program needs major reform to make it not remotely cost competitive with hiring local. There should be 3 scenarios that all these companies fall under: 1. Bring in someone temporarily while local training is underway (this should be the most attractive route). 2. The work assignment is shorter than the amount of training required, the requirement is legitimately so specific that training isn’t practicable, or any other short term temporary requirement (this should be so expensive that it will be an actual last resort and can’t possibly undercut anyone local). or 3. If the person is so crucial to your day to day operations they should be sponsored for permanent residency.
Why not put the onus on the employer? Have them commit to a fixed term where they’ll be responsible for paying this person, regardless if they want to terminate their employment. You could add your floating grace period to it as well.
Overall I think there needs to be major reform in the program, beyond this. We should be making the TFW program more burdensome on employers, both to encourage investment in relevant local education/training as well as protecting those who are recruited from being exploited.
I see what you’re saying. Some sort of unemployment stipend or guaranteed severance in addition to the residency grace period would be ideal
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Canadian companies ramped up their recruitment of temporary foreign workers last year, even as the labour market softened and the unemployment rate drifted higher.
During the last quarter of 2023, employers were approved to fill more than 81,000 positions through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, according to figures shared by the federal government with The Globe and Mail.
Over the past two years, employers have increased their recruitment of cooks, retail clerks and cleaners paid low hourly wages, among other occupations in high demand.
After the early devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian labour market became exceptionally tight – the unemployment rate hit a low of 4.8 per cent in the summer of 2022 – leading to fierce competition to fill vacancies.
“This still exceeds the 10 per cent limit that existed before 2022 and the health care and construction industries are exempted,” wrote the economists Mikal Skuterud and Parisa Mahboubi on the website of the C.D.
The ESDC numbers reflect the first part of the hiring process; after the employer is approved, foreign workers must get the requisite permits to begin their jobs in Canada.
The original article contains 962 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
