Ottawa to let some employers hire more temporary foreign workers

OTTAWA · The federal government announced reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker program on Friday, allowing eligible employers to hire more foreign workers and keep them employed for longer. The changes increase the cap on foreign workers from 10 percent to 15 percent of a business's workforce for employers in areas with local labour shortages. Provinces and territories must request permission from Ottawa on behalf of these eligible employers. The government also extended the validity of Labour Market Impact Assessments from one year to two, effectively doubling how long a worker can stay with the same employer.

Early childhood educators were added to the list of high-priority sectors facing critical labour shortages as of Friday. Businesses in certain sectors with chronic shortages, such as health care, construction and food processing, are already permitted to have 20 percent of their workforce made up of foreign workers. The program allows employers to hire mostly low-wage foreign workers on a temporary basis where domestic labour is deemed insufficient. The program has faced criticism from migrant-rights groups, labour advocates and the Conservative Party. Critics argue that tying a worker to a single employer increases the risk of mistreatment. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called for the program's abolition, linking it to high youth unemployment, though some economists dispute that connection.

Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, criticized the changes. "What we are seeing today is the government basically increasing the access employers have to temporary foreign workers," Hussan said. "But they are not providing them any stability or assurance that they will be able to obtain permanent residency." He also questioned the focus on early childhood educators, noting that thousands of trained former international students with expiring work permits are already available. "Canada has a trained child-care work force, and the easiest solution for the government would be to retain them," he said.

With files from The Globe and Mail