Jason Kenney vows to push ahead with overhaul of temporary foreign worker program
Employment Minister Jason Kenney is undeterred by business complaints over temporary foreign worker overhaul.
SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO
Employment Minister Jason Kenney is pushing ahead with a dramatic overhaul to the temporary foreign worker program, undeterred by complaints from business groups that the changes go too far.
Employment Minister Jason Kenney is pushing ahead with a dramatic overhaul to the temporary foreign worker program, undeterred by complaints from business groups that the changes go too far.
Kenney cited growing research that the program has distorted the labour market, keeping wages virtually frozen in Alberta’s food-services sector, even at a time when the cost of living has jumped dramatically in that booming region.
“Those are the distortions we want to prevent,” Kenney told reporters in Toronto after a Skills Summit brought together business groups, union leaders, and academics.
“We want to prevent that from spreading to other sectors and regions.”
Calling it a broken policy of the past, Kenney announced sweeping changes last week to the temporary foreign workers program that include inspections to stop abuses and stiffer fines, including jail terms, for violators.
Employers with 10 or more employees will be allowed to have only 10 per cent of their workforce made up of low-wage temporary foreign workers.
But business groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce have been vocal, arguing that “good politics may not be good policy.”
The chamber’s CEO Perrin Beatty said companies are now facing an increase in application fees from $275 to $1,000, and the time the temporary foreign workers can stay will be capped at two years, down from four.
“In many regions, it will simply be impossible,” Beatty said in an interview, noting none of the lower-skilled workers will be permitted in Toronto because the region’s unemployment rate is 7.3 per cent — above the 6 per cent threshold.
He argued the federal government screens applicants, has the power to grant permits as well as to shut down businesses that abuse the program.
“Legitimate businesses would be glad to see a crackdown on anybody who is abusing,” Beatty said. “Why we would want to punish people who were using the program for which it was designed is beyond me.”
Allan Odette, president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, added that the issue has been politicized, and the new changes will have unintended consequences for businesses.
“This comes at a moment in time when the Ontario economy is still very fragile,” he said in an interview.
But Kenney insisted the issue isn’t about abuses to the program or the odd bad employer, but rather the simple fact that there are Canadians who can’t find work.
“There are adequate workers available in Canada for these kinds of low-skilled jobs,” Kenney said. “They may not all live in the right places.”
He went on to list young Canadians, aboriginals, persons with disabilities and newer immigrants, who are unemployed or underemployed.
“That’s our message to employers. We should put Canadians first,” Kenney said. “The temporary foreign worker program was always supposed to be, only a last, limited and temporary resort.
“It was never intended to be a business model.”
Data show that about 25,000 employers in Canada rely on temporary foreign workers. Of those, more than 6,000 use foreign workers for more than 10 per cent of their work force.
And in more than 1,100 workplaces, foreign workers make up at least half of all employees.
Kenney also hinted that the federal government is looking to reform the rules around the live-in caregiver program, later this year, due to abuses.
The program allows families to hire a live-in caregiver from overseas, often caring for children or seniors. And after two years, those caregivers can become eligible for permanent residence.
But Kenney said evidence from immigration officials suggest that as many as half of the participants in the program were coming to work for relatives in Canada.
As a result, applications ballooned and the waiting lists have grown to an unacceptable level, he added.
Syed Hassan and David Moffette, from the group No One Is Illegal, briefly disrupted the news conference, as they called for permanent immigration status for migrant workers.
“There is no permanent immigration for immigrants in the low-skilled sector,” Hassan said.
"JASON & BUSINESS
As predicted, it is
now clear, that Ottawa and its chief spokesman Jason Kenney are anti business
and anti economy.
The attached Toronto
Star article confirms that this government is neither conservative nor a believer in rational public
policy.
Rather than sit down
and assure that the economy grows with the proper mix of highly qualified
foreign and Canadian tradespersons, this government has abandoned any economic
thought. Instead, Ottawa is fixated on pandering to the few, unskilled, bitter,
and sometimes lazy locals who blame outsiders for their troubles.
This government
faces an election in 2015. They have determined that they need votes from their
“base”. Their “base includes those who fear change and lack the skills or work
ethic to make something of themselves. To these scared individuals foreign
workers are a good target.
The
fact that unemployment will increase as businesses close for lack of skilled
tradespersons is unimportant to this government …manipulation of fearful,
unskilled voters trumps business sanity."
Richard Boraks, July 2, 2014
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