On August 26, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the federal government will be implementing a policy to reduce the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs), and potentially a reduction to the number of permanent residents Canada accepts each year. In a CBC article, Trudeau explained his rationale for the policy change stating, “We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology, not increasing their reliance on low-cost foreign labor.” He continued, “It’s not fair to Canadians struggling to find a good job, and it’s not fair to those temporary foreign workers, some of whom are being mistreated and exploited.”
In terms of legislation, the Liberal party is restricting the number of temporary foreign workers by shortening temporary foreign worker permits, limiting the number of temporary foreign workers a company can hire, and only allowing temporary foreign work permits in sectors with unemployment rates higher than six percent. Prime Minister Trudeau says there will be exceptions for temporary foreign workers in the seasonal food and agriculture, construction, and healthcare fields where there still is staffing shortages. Historically, the Liberal party has been a large supporter of immigration. According to Statistics Canada, 1,328,240 immigrants have come to Canada from 2016 to 2021 under the liberal government. When asked about his plan for immigration, conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre said “The only way to eliminate the housing shortage is to add homes faster than we have people, and I will be removing bureaucracy to build the homes and setting immigration levels so that our housing stock outgrows our population” in February of 2024. In the past few years, under Prime Minister Trudeau’s government, immigration levels have been steadily increasing. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a Canadian worker shortage, many large Canadian companies outsourced their labor to TFWs. This sudden change surged the number of low income workers in Canada. In the low wage sector, which includes industries like food services, construction, and hospitals, there was a rapid rise with 15,817 TFWs in 2016 to 83,654 workers in 2023 as found in federal reports.
As the Canadian economy is attempting to re-stabilize itself after a tumultuous few years, the government is attempting to decrease unemployment rates. When analyzing Bank of Canada’s recent monetary report, the immigrant unemployment rate is at an alarming 11.6 percent, a drastic spike from 6.4 percent in June. Similarly, the youth employment rate — ages 15 to 24 — is at the highest it has been in the past decade at 13.5 percent. The Liberal government believes that restricting the number of temporary foreign workers will urge Canadians to get into the workplace, aiding the weak economy.
This updated policy could fuel the already growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Canada in regards to the economy, and more broadly on Canada as a whole. While Prime Minister Trudeau’s concerns about the economy and the exploitation of a vulnerable population are valid, many experts are criticizing the government’s decision to reduce the number of TFWs in Canada, believing that Prime Minister Trudeau is blaming the country’s issues on an unprotected population.
Migrant Workers Alliance Change published an article in NB Media Co-op where they restated that many of Canada’s issues like high unemployment, low wages, and unaffordable housing are not directly caused by migrants and immigrants themselves. As said in this article, “Migrants build communities, and they deserve equal rights and respect, not scapegoating – Canada must focus on increasing rights and permanent resident status for migrants, not decreasing the numbers of migrants.” Many immigrant advocacy groups argue that the current issues like unemployment rates and the economy are not newcomers’ faults, instead systematic governmental issues. Ongoing discussion will be essential to navigate this complex situation.
