The federal government is considering refusing to process employers’ applications to hire low-wage temporary foreign workers, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said Tuesday in a meeting with representatives from major business associations across the country, and briefed them on other potential restrictions to come.
Historically, these workers were mainly found in agriculture. However, their numbers have exploded in recent years and they are found in several other fields, including manufacturing plants, food processing, fast food restaurants and the public health system.
If implemented, this measure would prevent employers “in certain regions” and “certain sectors of activity” from using the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), his office indicated in a press release, without specifying which ones. The positions concerned are those in the “low-wage” stream, that is, below the median hourly rate of $27.47 in Quebec.
“I have made it clear over the past year that the abuse and misuse of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program must stop,” Mr. Boissonnault also said.
Following the sharp increase in demand for this type of labor, the number of documented abuses – including by The duty — has indeed increased.
“Stricter and more rigorous monitoring in high-risk areas” is already in place according to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC). Fines imposed on non-compliant employers totaled $2.1 million in 2023-2024, a 36% jump from the previous fiscal year. However, several of these financial penalties remain unpaid, as indicated on the official website that lists these regulatory infractions.
“Bad actors are taking advantage of people and compromising the Program to the detriment of legitimate businesses,” the minister added.
Among other measures to reduce the use of these below-median wage workers, the minister is exploring the possibility of requiring that a company have been in business for a minimum number of years or to be able to see its layoff history. The fee to obtain a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), the first step in recruiting abroad, could also increase, in order to fund more inspections and other “integrity” activities. However, he did not provide further details beyond announcing his intentions.
A hijacked program?
Set up as a last resort, the TFWP has become a must-have in recent years to address the labour shortage, according to both employers and unions. It was designed as an “extraordinary measure to be used when a qualified Canadian is unable to fill a vacant position,” the communication released Tuesday morning also states.
However, more than 239,000 positions have been approved in 2023 across the country, double the number in 2018, according to information from ESDC. In Quebec, nearly 59,000 permits under this specific program came into effect last year. Of these, more than 20,000 positions were in the “low wage” category according to our compilation.
Last March, Minister Boissonnault announced with his colleague at Immigration Marc Miller that a 20% cap on temporary workers would apply to most sectors, except agriculture, health and construction. This threshold had been raised to 30% in Canada. In Quebec, it was also uncapped for an increasingly long list of professions under “simplified processing”, at the request of François Legault’s government.
Many of the announced tightening measures will therefore have a limited effect in Quebec. Premier Legault has repeatedly stated his desire to “reduce the number of temporary workers,” but he has indicated that he wants to focus primarily on another temporary work program, the International Mobility Program, often used by foreign students after obtaining their diploma.
This is not the first time that this program has come under fire. A major reform was carried out in 2014, in particular, to put an end to the increasingly widespread practice among employers of basing their management model on the use of the Program, the federal government noted at the time.