From its inception, the goal of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) has been to fill a genuine and acute labour need here in Canada.

Recently, however, Canadians—including many within the constituency of Yorkton-Melville—have raised concerns about the TFWP. They have observed that some employers are using it to replace Canadians with workers from outside our borders.

The government’s intention has always been, and still is, that Canadian workers must be given priority when filling available jobs. Displacing our own citizens was never the intent of the program.

In Economic Action Plan 2013, we committed to launch a review of the TFWP. We have done that, and are moving quickly to identify and correct problems that may stop qualified Canadian workers from getting jobs. In the days to come, the government will also hold consultations across the country with business, industry and trade organizations, so they can give us input on these and other changes to the program.

Here are some of the actions we’re taking now:

• Effective immediately, employers are required to pay temporary foreign workers the same wage as they would pay Canadian workers—we have removed the flexibility in the existing wage structure.
• We are also temporarily preventing the accelerated processing of Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) and asking additional questions to ensure that when employers bring in additional foreign workers, no Canadian workers are displaced as a result of outsourcing.
• We are mandating that companies produce a solid plan to transition from the use of foreign workers to Canadians—that means training Canadians if necessary. We don’t want temporary foreign workers to become permanent fixtures and long-term solutions.
• We are introducing fees for employers for the processing of LMOs, and we will increase the cost of work permits so that our taxpayers are no longer subsidizing the cost.
• We will also make English and French the ONLY languages that can be listed as a job requirement.

The reforms I’ve listed here won’t affect the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program or the Agricultural Stream. The work shortage in those sectors is acute, ongoing and has proved temporary.

In all cases, we are also increasing our authority to suspend and revoke LMOs and Work Permits when companies don’t play by the rules.

-30-

The audio version of Garry's May 6, 2013 op-ed column can be heard by clicking here