Last August, Quebec and Ottawa reached an agreement to ease the requirements that the federal government imposes on companies that use temporary foreign workers (TFWs) in certain types of jobs. The Quebec Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, has just unveiled the details of the relaxations resulting from this agreement and which he is now asking the federal government to approve.
These measures, which will be the subject of a pilot project, are specific in that they do not only target skilled jobs at $ 100,000 per year that François Legault dreams of, but also modest livelihoods in fields. however, hit by labor shortages.
At the end of October, the Labor Market Partners Commission, an organization that brings together employers and unions, reached a consensus and drew up a list of 71 trades and occupations that must be the subject of a simplified processing of applications. Retail trade, accommodation, catering and food processing are among the favored sectors. There are grocery store cashiers, material handlers, maintenance workers, laborers and servers, but also machinery operators, whose positions are better paid.
One of the problems affecting these foreign workers is that they are granted by the federal government so-called “closed” work permits, that is to say, linked to a single employer, which makes them vulnerable and makes them vulnerable. exposes to abuse from exploiting bosses. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that these workers do not know their rights and may have difficulty communicating in French or in English.
The minister was sensitive to the situation. He passed amendments to the Act respecting labor standards together with a regulation on the recruitment agencies used by companies. These agencies, whose practices in some cases were questionable, must now be licensed. They are required to provide workers with a description of the working conditions relating to their employment as well as information documents from the Commission des normes, de l’énergie, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST). which relate to their rights and the employer’s obligations. These documents are now available in French, English and Spanish.
As he did for foreign agricultural workers, the Minister formed a TET squad within the CNESST to investigate complaints about possible abuses and violations of labor standards.
Without this being a guarantee that workers will always be treated well, this is a clear improvement. In addition, employers have made a commitment, even for lower-paying jobs, to provide new recruits with transportation, accommodation and coverage from the Régie l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ).
This increased influx of foreign workers, in the Montreal region at least, will delight English school boards, which will no doubt find, when the workers are accompanied by their families, a certain number of children to populate their schools. Unlike immigrants, these temporary workers are not subject to the Charter of the French language and can send their children to English schools.
This is an anomaly that should be corrected. The Legault government would also like Ottawa to hand over control of the TFW program to it, which it could harmonize with its immigration responsibilities. In this regard, The Journal of Montreal We learned that Service Canada no longer responds to demand from businesses in Quebec. They still have to produce a tedious “labor market impact study” for each job offered, while federal officials fail to process files in a timely manner.
The use of temporary foreign workers is a stopgap that reflects a crippled immigration system. The Quebec Arrima program, which consists of inviting candidates for immigration according to the needs of the labor market, is not functional. In any case, Immigration Canada, whose dysfunction is obvious, does not even manage to grant permanent residence to the tens and tens of thousands of immigrants holding a Quebec selection certificate who are already on Quebec territory. Hiring new ones through Arrima would only add to the inexcusable delays, of 28 months on average, for which the federal government is responsible.