Canada Considers Capping Low-Wage Temporary Foreign Worker Applications
These wages range from $24 per hour in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to $39.24 per hour in the Northwest Territories.
Employment and Workforce Development Minister Randy Boissonnault announced Tuesday that the federal government is contemplating a policy change that would reject temporary foreign worker (TFW) applications for low-wage positions, according to his office.
This potential shift aims to ensure that only jobs paying at least the median hourly wage in each province and territory are eligible for TFWs. These wages range from $24 per hour in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia to $39.24 per hour in the Northwest Territories.
“I’ve been clear over the last year, abuse and misuse of the TFW program must end. The health and safety of temporary foreign workers in Canada is a responsibility I take very seriously,” Boissonnault stated in a media release. He emphasized that “bad actors” are exploiting the program, thereby harming legitimate businesses, and that new reforms are being implemented to prevent fraud and misuse.
The minister’s meeting on Tuesday included representatives from the food and beverage, transportation, and agriculture sectors. Kristina Farrell, CEO of Food and Beverage Canada, expressed concern that this policy change could severely impact the food processing industry. “Obviously if that applied to food and beverage manufacturing, it would be a crisis,” she told CBC News. “At the end of the day, that would have an impact on the price of food.”
The number of TFWs in the food processing sector is challenging to estimate as it fluctuates annually. In the 2023-24 fiscal year, fines issued under the TFW program exceeded $2 million, marking a 36 percent increase from the previous year. This surge in fines is partly due to the sale of fraudulent labour market impact assessments (LMIAs), with prices ranging from $30,000 to $60,000, according to Manan Gupta, president of Skylake Immigration in Brampton, Ontario.
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