Premier David Eby suggested British Columbia will not apply for the federal government’s targeted expansion of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.
Ottawa said on March 13 that it will allow a limited expansion of the program to help rural employers address labour shortages.
Canada has reduced the program in recent years, including by lowering cap on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers an employer can hire relative to their total workforce from 20 per cent to 10 per cent. Sectors such as health care, construction, and food processing are still capped at 20 per cent.
Ottawa said last week that it will permit rural employers to retain their current number of TFWs. Eligible rural regions will be able to temporarily increase the allowable share of TFWs from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
The program would take effect as soon as April 1. The measures would remain in place until March 31, 2027, but provinces and territories would have to request them.
Speaking at an unrelated event in Vancouver on Tuesday, Eby said he’s “not a fan” of the TFW Program.
“It ties workers to a single employer, raising the possibility of abuse and exploitation,” said Eby.
He also noted the program does not offer a pathway to citizenship.
“The idea that the solution to the challenges we face is an expansion of this program is, frankly, a bit frustrating,” said Eby.
He noted B.C.’s Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) allocations in recent years have fallen short of what the province requested.
B.C. requested an allocation of 9,000 for 2026, but Ottawa had granted the province 5,254. B.C.’s total allocation for 2025 was a little over 6,200.
“We need to have that ability to offer a pathway to permanent citizenship and recruit those workers that we need. I do not believe that this announcement by the federal government assists us at all in addressing those needs for the long term,” said Eby.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business raised concerns last week that more than one million temporary work permits in Canada are set to expire by the end of this year.
Ryan Mitton, CFIB’s legislative director for British Columbia, said the organization is calling on B.C. to sign on to the federal TFW expansion.
He said CFIB supports calls to expand B.C.’s PNP program, but says most of the allocations go toward public-sector jobs, such as health care, and do not benefit small businesses.
“Communities like Sechelt are warning that up to 300 people could be forced to leave the town overnight, and that’s almost three per cent of their population,” said Mitton. “So that’s a huge impact on small, rural communities.”
Sechelt Mayor John Henderson and Patrick Weiler, MP for West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky, spoke in Sechelt on Tuesday, welcoming the federal measures and calling on the province to request participation in the program.
“We’re not hiring temporary foreign workers because we have a choice,” said Henderson. “We simply have no workers available on the coast.”
The federal government said temporary foreign workers account for about one per cent of Canada’s overall workforce and about 10 per cent of all non-permanent residents in Canada.
