The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been diverted from its primary objective of alleviating temporary labor shortages in Quebec. It’s time to get back to the essence of the program.
The Quebec pilot project, with its “simplified treatment” agreed between the two levels of government, allows unbridled use of temporary foreign workers with precarious status. This exempts employers from demonstrating their prior local recruitment efforts, which was an essential safeguard of the program. It also makes it possible to circumvent the limit of temporary foreign workers in the same workplace, which is normally 20%. The Quebec pilot project, with its simplified treatment, undermines the safeguards that made the TFWP acceptable.
While the two levels of government question the number of temporary immigrants, sometimes emphasizing asylum seekers, sometimes students, they are careful not to explain how they removed the safeguards regulating the PTET, whose number of admissions increased eightfold in Quebec between 2017 and 2023, reaching 59,000 in June 2023.
Make no mistake, our union recognizes the usefulness of the PTET for many regional businesses that cannot find the personnel necessary to operate. But it cannot be a permanent business model which establishes the existence of two classes of workers. If the shortage persists, Quebec must absolutely recruit these workers as permanent residents as a priority. We must quickly put an end to the precariousness caused by the status of temporary immigrant, subject to the goodwill of the boss for the renewal of their work permit and sentenced to live far from their family. We need them, they must be able to establish themselves properly.
Diversion mechanism
For a majority of professions eligible for “simplified processing” (309 out of a total of nearly 600), businesses can submit a request “without having to provide proof of recruitment effort,” as specified in the description of the pilot project. They are also “exempt from the requirement for the low wage limit in a specific workplace”, which is normally 20% of the workforce (and 30% for certain sectors), exception of seasonal jobs.
With the economic downturn and layoffs beginning, this diversion is a problem.
We must return to the very basis of the TFWP: remedying temporary labor shortages. If labor needs are permanent, then temporary foreign workers should be able to quickly become permanent residents and then citizens. This is what most of our temporary foreign worker members want.
We must repair the gaps in the TFWP and create real pathways to permanent immigration for the workers necessary for the proper functioning of our workplaces.