As of August 27, 2024 | Ottawa | Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Trudeau announces reduction in temporary foreign workers, suggests more immigration changes to come
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced reductions to the temporary foreign worker program Monday, but there are many exceptions to the clampdown that could still see thousands of people brought to Canada for short-term work.
Trudeau said the program needs to be reined in as the country’s unemployment rate rises.
“We no longer need as many temporary foreign workers. We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology and not increase their reliance on low-cost foreign labour,” he said at the start of a three-day cabinet retreat in Halifax.
The Liberals’ new rules will restrict some low-wage employers from using the program, but data reviewed nearly 27,000 high-wage jobs that won’t be restricted were recently approved.
At the end of the pandemic in 2022, the Liberals eased some of the restrictions on the program because at the time labour shortages were common. The Liberal government removed a rule that prevented workers from applying to bring in temporary foreign workers if local unemployment was higher than six percent.
The government also removed a rule about the percentage of a company’s workforce that could be temporary foreign workers and allowed temporary foreign workers to stay longer.
Beginning next month, those relaxed rules will change back; the six percent rule will go into force preventing companies from using TFWs in areas of high unemployment. And right across the country, workers will be limited to a one-year stay and companies won’t be able to use TFWs for more than 10 percent of their workforce.
Trudeau said easing restrictions on the program made sense in 2022, but things have changed.
“That’s what the business community needed. That’s what the business community was asking for and at that moment in time, those changes helped. They helped the economy and they helped businesses make it through a challenging moment in our economic recovery.”