Ottawa loosens restrictions on temporary foreign workers to help employers with labour shortages

The federal government is making it easier to get foreign workers to work in restaurants, food processing, and other jobs.

Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program will allow employers to bring in more low- wage workers from abroad.

Industry groups have been lobbying for months to get the changes they need. In the food industry, a coalition of industry groups has been calling for emergency access to more TFWs to help ward off deficiencies in the food supply.

The changes will increase the flow of workers into Canada without actually fixing a fundamental flaw in the program that has left TFWs vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.

According to a March 22 report from Statistics Canada, Canada's labour shortage was close to 1 million unfilled jobs in the final quarter of 2011. The last month for which data is available, in January, the job vacancies fell to 830,000 from 988,000 in September.

Most employers are allowed to hire TFWs in low- wage positions for up to 10% of their workforce.

The cap will be raised to 30 per cent for employers in seven hard-hit industries, including food service, health care, food processing, and construction, as of April 30. The cap for employers outside those industries will go up.

seafood processing, which had been exempt since 2015, will not be subject to limits. The jobs will be allowed to last 270 days a year, up from 180.

Employers in regions with a high unemployment rate will be able to use TFWs in retail and food service.

Employers had to fill out paperwork every six months to show they couldn't find domestic workers to fill the jobs. The rule was relaxed for nine months. The applications will only need to be completed every 18 months.

According to an estimate from Food and Beverage Canada, the changes will allow food processors in Canada to hire an additional 12,000 TFWs this year.

The coalition applauded the changes, which lifted caps on TFWs to 30 percent of the workforce.

Syed Hussan is the executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.

The working and living conditions for TFWs in agriculture have come under scrutiny in the last two years. The auditor general found 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 is a 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 is 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299 888-353-1299

Trudeau directed Qualtrough and Bibeau to strengthen federal protections for TFWs while also addressing labour shortages in the farming and food processing.

MWAC said that migrant workers were not able to complain about bad conditions or quit because their permit to work in Canada was tied to their employer. Hussan said that that leads to a dangerous power imbalance between employer and employee. MWAC wants migrant workers to receive permanent resident status.

Hussan said that workers should come with permanent resident status instead of an employer dependent work permit.

The changes to the TFW program were being done along side measures to protect workers.

The government said it is working on new regulations to better protect TFWs from mistreatment and abuse, and is using a tip line to target higher-risk employers.

The need for safe and adequate employer-supplied housing for TFWs has been highlighted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Email: jedmiston@postmedia.com