2013-04-30
Dana Flavelle
Canadian employers say Ottawa’s changes to the temporary foreign worker program will add costs, increase red tape and could even put some companies out of business.
Toronto Star
Toronto
Canadian employers say Ottawa’s changes to the temporary foreign worker program will add costs, increase red tape and could even put some companies out of business.
“It’s going to drive up costs and make it more difficult to use the program,” said Perrin Beatty, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
“Nobody benefits from that,” Beatty said adding it could force come employers out of business.
Ottawa moved to tighten the rules surrounding the program Monday following a public uproar over the use of temporary foreign workers at the Royal Bank of Canada.
About 47 people working in computer services were slated to lose their jobs as the bank outsourced their work to a U.S.-based firm with operations in India. The bank has since apologized.
“The government has tried to solve a political problem by exacerbating an economic problem,” Beatty said.
Under the new rules, employers who want to hire temporary foreign workers will bear the cost of proving no Canadian was willing or able to do the work.
Ottawa has eliminated a provision that allowed employers to pay temporary foreign workers 5 to 15 per cent less than the prevailing Canadian wage.
Under the new rules, employers who hire temporary foreign workers will have to demonstrate plans to transition to a Canadian workforce.
As well, the government plans to suspend a “fast-track” method that allowed employers to prove within five days that no Canadian workers were available to do the work.
Federal immigration minister Jason Kenney, who announced the changes, said the government is aware that employers are facing skills shortages across the country.
While Canada has created more net new jobs since the 2008 recession than any other G7 country, demand for temporary foreign workers is also on the rise, Kenney said.
Intended to fill jobs where there’s an acute shortage on a temporary basis, Kenney said, the government shares Canadians “concerns about examples of the program being used not as it was intended.
“Canadians must have first crack at jobs in our economy,” Kenney said.
The new rules will strengthen the program and help employers grow and ultimately create more jobs for Canadian, Kenney said.
Business groups were critical of the changes.
“One of the worst decisions this government has ever made,” said Dan Kelly, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, said of the new rules. “They’re completing ignoring the needs of small firms and the needs of employers who are in need of entry level workers.”
“I’m very, very unhappy with this government for this decision,” Kelly added.
Many of the heaviest users of the program are small businesses in rural communities in high-wage provinces, like Alberta and Saskatchewan, who can’t compete with the resource industry for younger workers, he said.
“Half our members in western Canada are telling us right now they’re ignoring business opportunities because they don’t have enough people,” Kelly said.
Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters said the new user fees should be tied to performance; ensuring companies that want to hire temporary foreign workers get speedy approval from government.
“The fact of the matter is you have companies that just can’t find people,” said Jay Myers, president and chief executive officer of the manufacturers’ association.
If companies can’t find the right people quickly, it could slow down Canada’s economic recovery, Myers cautioned. “It’s about the productivity and the ability of whole companies to compete.”
The federal government said it costs $35.5 million a year, or about $342 per applicant, to process employers’ requests for temporary foreign workers.
Some 338,000 people were working in Canada on temporary foreign worker permits last year, more than are admitted annually as permanent residents.
Canadian employers say they need the program to fill gaps in the labour force.
The top 20 Canadian employers using the temporary foreign worker program in 2011 included major fast food restaurants, some construction companies and meat packers, according to a list previously released under a Freedom of Information Request.
Wendy’s Restaurants, in Calgary, Alberta, for instances, made 553 requests under the program for what’s called a positive Labour Market Opinion, a precursor to being granted permission to hire a temporary foreign worker.
One LMO can apply to any number of TFW positions.
On average, half of all LMOs result in a work permit being issued. At the time, it was taking an average of 104 days – just over three months – to get a work permit issued.
The now suspended Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process allowed employers to win approval to hire temporary foreign workers within 10 days of applying.
The Alberta Federation of Labour has said the fast-track approval process – aimed at bringing in highly-skilled workers -- was being misused by fast-food companies, convenience stores and gas stations to bring in low-skilled foreign workers.
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