Premier David Eby said it’s time for the federal government to reassess Canada’s temporary foreign worker program.
Speaking at an unrelated event at a school in Surrey on Thursday, Eby said it’s important to protect employment opportunities for young people in British Columbia and across Canada.
“The temporary foreign worker program is not working. It should be cancelled or significantly reformed,” said Eby.
He said increased immigration is putting strain on food banks, homeless shelters and critical infrastructure. “British Columbia is willing to convene provinces that are interested in this issue to have a serious, grown-up conversation about immigration in Canada,” said Eby.
His comments come a day after federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for an end to the program, saying too many corporations are relying on cheap foreign labour.
The Conservatives said their plan would be to scrap the current temporary foreign worker program and create a separate program for agricultural labour that is difficult to fill with Canadians.
Temporary foreign workers are non-permanent residents with employment income in Canada who may hold permits for work, study or other purposes.
The federal program allows employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are not available. Employers requesting permission to hire temporary foreign workers must include Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) to determine the likely effect these workers would have on the Canadian labour market.
Eby suggested those LMIAs are vulnerable to fraud, pointing to previous reports of forged documents.
Statistics Canada said the number of temporary foreign workers increased from 356,000 in 2011 to 845,000 in 2021. It said study permit holders, with or without work permits, accounted for close to half of the increase in temporary foreign workers during that period.
Eby said the international student program and temporary foreign workers program are a factor in the high youth unemployment rate.
In July, B.C’s employment rate for youth between the ages of 15 and 24 was just over 12 per cent. The national average youth unemployment rate was 14.6 per cent.
Eby said Prime Minister Mark Carney has “taken some good steps to reign in the excesses of the immigration program from the last administration,” but more needs to be done.
Carney said Wednesday his government is reviewing the program and Canada’s immigration policies as a whole, but he noted access to temporary foreign workers is an important issue for Canadian businesses.
A B.C. spokesperson for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Eby’s calls to scrap the program are “deeply misguided.”
“Adjustments to the program make sense, but cancelling it altogether puts politics ahead of sensible policy,” said Ryan Mitton, CFIB’s Director of Legislative Affairs for B.C.
“For many small businesses in B.C., especially in rural and remote areas, the TFW Program is a last resort that keeps the doors open, protects Canadian jobs and fills gaps where no local workers are available,” he said.
