Temporary foreign workers: Businesses needing skilled workers sideswiped by changes.

From ski resorts to doctors' offices, employers say they rely on foreign hires

By Susana Mas, CBC News Posted: Jul 23, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Jul 23, 2014 4:56 PM ET

David Lynn, the president and CEO of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, has written to Employment Minister Jason Kenney to complain about the recent changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Lynn says the new rules are a threat to the ski and tourism industry in Western Canada. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Canadian employers who use the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to hire high-skilled workers say they have been sideswiped by changes intended to curb abuses of the program by businesses that employ low-skilled workers in the fast-food sector.

Employers must now pay $1,000 for every temporary foreign worker they want to hire and pass a more rigorous labour market impact assessment test to prove the need to hire a foreign worker over a Canadian, under new rules announced in June. The government introduced a $275 fee last year, but there was no fee prior to April 2013.

• Temporary Foreign Worker Program overhaul

Representatives in the film and TV industry were recently told work permits for foreign actors and directors would be issued in a timely manner, while employers who hire foreign musicians were exempted from the new rules. Employers looking to hire low-skilled workers in the seafood industry, however, have had no such luck.

Groups in the tourism, health, tech and business community are also complaining they have been inadvertently targeted by the changes announced by Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

David Lynn, the president and CEO of the Canada West Ski Areas Association, told CBC News he wrote to Kenney after his members were "blindsided" by the new rules.

"The number of changes and the magnitude of those changes shocked most people in the business community," Lynn said from Whistler on Tuesday.

"We feel the government should deal directly with people that are abusing the program and not institute a series of draconian changes that impact all of the people adversely, including those people who use the program responsibly."

'We strongly urge the government to consider modifications to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to accommodate the unique needs of our industry'- David Lynn, president and CEO, Canada West Ski Areas Association

According to Lynn, his members hire approximately 500 temporary foreign workers over a typical ski season and the $1,000 fee is putting at risk an industry that is already struggling to break even. 

In a letter to his members, Lynn said he asked Kenney to consider the "major adverse impact" the new rules are having on the ski and tourism industries in Western Canada.

"We strongly urge the government to consider modifications to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to accommodate the unique needs of our industry.

"Specifically, we require the ability to utilize this program to hire seasonal workers, at industry-level wages, and without the burden of high fees and administrative barriers."

Whether a job is considered high-skilled or low-skilled is no longer determined by a standardized list of occupations in the labour market but by whether the position falls above or below the provincial median hourly wage, which currently ranges from a low of $17.26 in P.E.I. to a high of $32.53 in the Northwest Territories. 

While the government has said the new system is "more objective and accurate," Lynn said there is some "ambiguity" around that. 

"There are concerns the simplistic system of 'high-wage, low-wage' doesn't take into account the skill level and it really doesn't take into account the total compensation, including things like bonuses and gratuities."​

Lynn said he has yet to receive an official response from Kenney.

Doctors in rural communities  

Those who recruit physicians say the rules have become so onerous it's becoming next to impossible for hospital and clinics to hire international doctors, particularly in rural communities where there are known shortages.

Under the new rules, the government has promised to process applications within 10 business days for employers who want to hire high-skilled, high-wage workers for four months or less a year.

'The rules are much different and I am concerned that we will not be able to continue to support these 16 physicians, not because we don’t need them, but because the program won’t allow us to continue.'—Joan Mavrinac, head of the regional physician recruitment office for Essex/Windsor 

Joan Mavrinac, the head of the regional physician recruitment office for Essex County, told CBC News it took four to six weeks for the government to process her applications last year, and the additional red tape will only add to the wait times.

She is worried the new rules will deter 16 doctors who live in Detroit but work in Windsor from continuing to work in Canada and discourage other American doctors from practising here.

Mavrinac said she has had to fill out multiple forms and pay multiple fees because the rules say she has to fill out an application for every location a doctor would be hired to work in — be it a hospital, a clinic or a nursing home. "Most physicians do not work in a single location," Mavrinac said. And because work permits are now only good for a one-year period, Mavrinac said, "In a year’s time, we’d have to begin the process again."

Mavrinac said she has complied with the rules and advertised the jobs in more than one job site, but never received a single application from a Canadian doctor looking for work. "No physician I’ve ever met would look for a job on the National Job Bank, nor would they be searching on Kijiji for a job."

"Now, the rules are much different, and I am concerned that we will not be able to continue to support these 16 physicians, not because we don’t need them, but because the program won’t allow us to continue," Mavrinac said.

'Serious economic impact'

Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told CBC News he is also hearing similar complaints from employers who need to hire high-skilled workers across various sectors of the Canadian economy.

"We're hearing from one coast to another. We're hearing there's a real challenge for businesses to get their hands on the high-skilled people they need."

In a phone interview on Tuesday, Beatty said he is worried that ski resorts have yet to hear back from the minister in charge.

"I haven't heard of responses yet, and this is a concern to me, because obviously people are doing planning for the coming winter season … it's going to have a very serious economic impact in many communities across the country."

Beatty said that employers in the tech industry are also being affected by the new rules, which are making it harder for them to hire high-skilled workers such as software developers.

"There are other sectors as well that are having a hard time getting their hands on the people that they need and I hope the government will give a priority to saying: where there are skills that are missing in Canada and where bringing in somebody from abroad would allow a business to be more successful, were to hire more Canadians as a result, we need to expedite this," Beatty said.

Onus on employers to show 'transition plans'

Janet Ecker, the president and CEO of Toronto Financial Services Alliance, was invited to take part in a stakeholder meeting with the immigration minister last week.

Ecker, whose group works with financial services companies located abroad but looking to do business in Toronto, said she told Alexander the new rules are making it more difficult for banks, insurance and pension funds companies to recruit the world's brightest and best talent.

"Our economy is dependent on the ability for talent to move readily in here when we need it, for companies who are located here to have access to global talent. So there's a very strong economic impetus here that can't be ignored."

Source:http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/temporary-foreign-workers-businesses-needing-skilled-workers-sideswiped-by-changes-1.2713279

Comment:

"I know for a number of our companies it's been very frustrating."

Ecker said both ministers have been receptive to these concerns, but they have yet to offer a solution.

A spokesperson for the minister would not say how Kenney intended to respond to these concerns, but told CBC News the onus is on employers to show the government they are taking steps to reduce the number of foreign workers they hire in high-wage jobs over the long-term.

"Transition plans will oblige employers of high-wage temporary foreign workers to help Canadians obtain in-demand skills through activities like investing in skills training or taking on more apprentices, or an employer can provide proof that they are helping a high-skilled temporary foreign worker transition to becoming a permanent resident of Canada," Alexandra Fortier said in an email, quoting directly from the new rules posted on the Employment and Social Development Canada website.

"It’s been a month since Jason Kenney tried to convince Canadians that there is no shortage of highly skilled workers in Canada.

Watching Kenney deal with the economic fall out of his June 20 nightmare has been predictable. So far, he has granted exemptions to musicians, actors and food service workers in parts of Labrador. He is fighting hard to ignore the foreign worker needs of provinces and employers across the country.

Kenney will fold on a sector by sector, region by region basis as he weighs the political fallout of each “exception “to his June 20 rules.

What is motivating Kenney’s economically irrational behavior? 

The conventional wisdom is that Kenney is sacrificing the economy because the Conservative party needs the votes of the 34% “base” for the 2015 federal election.

I belong to the Conservative party “base”. Most of my employer clients belong to the “base “. We can all accept that abusers of any rules, including economic immigrant rules, should be punished.

Nobody in the 34 % base believes that it is in the country’s, the party’s or Stephen Harper’s best interest to savage an economy which simply does not train enough skilled trades workers.

In January 2012 during the Davos economic summit, Prime Minister Harper clearly stated his priorities. Canada needs improved skills training. Since it takes time to develop skills training, it is important that Canada secure the right economic immigrants in order to bridge the skills gap required in building an economy.

The Prime Minister kept his word. He did what Prime Ministers are supposed to do. He asked the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Operations to follow up on the government’s skills training and economic immigration programs. It is the responsibility of the Operations Committee to oversee the proper implementation of the Prime Minister’s stated policies.

So what happened?   

What happened is that the Prime Minister trusted Jason Kenney who in turn recommended Chris Alexander.

Kenney is Chair of the Operations Committee.

Kenney is also the Human Recourses Minister responsible for skills training   

Alexander is a member of the Operations Committee

Alexander is also Immigration Minister.

Kenney and Alexander have failed the Prime Minister.

Kenney took praise in the media for securing agreement among the provinces for  a skills training agenda. The problem is that the agreement secured by Kenney did not meet the Prime Minister’s mandate. The PM wants to train Canadians. Kenney wanted a public relations victory that made him look good, even if no Canadians were trained. Kenney claimed victory. The PM was defeated.

Score: Harper … O                 Kenney …1

Kenney’s record on economic immigration mirrors his accomplishments with skills training. A lot of tough talk leading to a strangled economy. The problem is that the economic immigrant policies promoted by Kenney and executed by Alexander do not meet the Prime Minister’s mandate. The PM wants immigrants who bridge the skills gap. Kenney wants a public relations victory that makes him look good.Kenney has claimed victory. The PM’s economic immigrant mandate has been defeated.

Score: Harper … O                 Kenney …2

So how is Kenney getting away with his self serving smoke and mirrors?

Kenney is assuring the Prime Minister and the party that his efforts are securing the “base” and thus assuring a majority Harper victory in 2015.

Is Kenney speaking truth to power?

A majority victory rests on two pillars:

First, a strong economy.

Second, a repeat of the party’s 2011 success in the GTA. 

I cannot comment on the state of the 2015 economy. The PM knows better than anybody.

But I can comment on the party’s chances in the GTA.

Kenney knows that he is lying to the PM and the party about the strength of the “base” in the GTA.  

Kenney knows that we are well below 2011 levels and crashing. Kenney’s policies assure that the party will not recover in the GTA for a generation.  He knows that the federal party results in the GTA will mirror the 2014 provincial results. He also knows that his self serving, systemic, abusive alienation of the crucial Chinese and Italian communities is at the core of the Prime Minister being refused a majority in 2015.

Kenney may be benefitting personally with his high profile support of the Falun Dong and Tibet separatism. 

Kenney may be benefitting personally by denying the existence of 15,000 illegal young Italians in Ontario alongside tens of thousands of illegal Portuguese. 

So why does Kenney deny the Prime Minister, harm the party and severely prejudice the economy while making himself look principled?  

Because Jason Kenney wants to be Prime Minister in 2016.

Kenney is drawing on a 20 year working friendship with the PM.

The PM truly believes that Kenney is protecting the Party’s “base”.

Kenney has high jacked the PM”s trust. He is protecting his own leadership campaign base.

As Kenney weakens Harper’s reputation on the economy and condemns him to infamy in the GTA. Kenney himself looks stronger. Strong on skills development. Strong on foreign workers. Forcing a “shared values” based immigration policy. Principled on Ukraine .Principled on Israel. Principled on human rights in China. Doubling immigration from Italy.

But Kenney’s ambitions have an Achilles heal.

A leadership campaign needs money.

We should worry about a leadership campaign being waged by a man who chairs a Cabinet Committee. This is why leadership aspirants are asked to leave the cabinet. Kenney won’t leave.

Leadership campaigns cost money.

Jason Kenney stays in cabinet while his leadership campaign has the gasoline to move.

Political donors demand political influence. Influence over policies such as economic immigration, national security and oil. Influence over appointments involving national security, oil and immigration.

The Prime Minister is an honest man. An economist seeking rational follow up on his economic policies.

It must be difficult for him having to accept advice from the Chair of a cabinet committee that he override national security concerns in making senior appointments and that he approve skills training and economic immigration policies that have no statistical basis.

While security and statistical realties are blindsided, associates of Arthur Porter, Gazprom, the FSB, Nate Jacobsen etc are all represented at the cabinet table.

It’s too bad that small trades businesses requiring skilled workers in the GTA cannot move the cash like Arthur Porter’s associates in Montreal, Nate Jacobsen’s night club associates in Tel Aviv and the FSB ‘s Gazprom associates in Moscow and Nevada. And then there are the others.

Back in 1982, I was not in favor of the formal introduction of the Constitution Act and the Charter of Rights. I believed that Parliament was the ultimate defender of “Peace, Order and Good Government”.

I still believe that Parliament should be the ultimate defender of our system.

Unfortunately, the country now needs the Charter to buy some time while some parliamentarians look in the mirror and examine their concept of public service.  

We will see Kenney and Alexander in Court."

Richard Boraks, July 24. 2014