OTTAWA: The Canadian government was set to announce tighter rules to prevent employers from using its temporary foreign worker programme to squeeze Canadians out of jobs, acting after two high-profile cases tarnished the program’s reputation.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Human Resources Minister Diane Finley have scheduled a news conference for Monday afternoon to announce reforms to the programme, which the Conservative government was expected to present to Parliament in its budget implementation bill.
“While Canada is experiencing significant skills shortages in many sectors and regions, this government believes that Canadians must always have first crack at job opportunities when they become available,” said Stephen Lecce, spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
“The government is moving quickly and taking action to reform the temporary foreign worker program to ensure that Canadians are given the first chance at available jobs.”
Despite 7 percent unemployment nationally, in some areas and in some professions there are labour shortages, and Canadian employers are allowed to bring in foreign workers if the employers can demonstrate that they cannot find Canadians to do the work.
The program was designed mainly to bring in cheap agricultural workers but it has expanded rapidly to fill shortages elsewhere, both high-skilled positions in the booming resource sector and low-skilled jobs such as servers at the country’s ubiquitous Tim Hortons coffee shops.
Reuters
