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| Lorne Waldman |
Certainly there are serious problems, but the foreign worker program should not be blamed for all the ills in our economy. It plays an important role, and while reform is certainly needed, it should not be cancelled.
First, many of the non-Canadians who are working in Canada did not come to Canada as foreign workers but as students. After graduation, a foreign student is often entitled to a postgraduate work permit. Underfunded universities attracted hundreds of thousands of foreign students who paid tens of thousands of dollars that helped keep the universities solvent. According to Statistics Canada: “The significant increase in the number of study permit holders contributed to the rapid growth in foreign workers employed in retail trade and in administrative and support, waste management and remediation services, which usually pay at a low wage rate.” The changes the Government of Canada has already implemented in placing restrictions on the number of foreign students will significantly reduce the number of students on work permits.
As for the foreign worker program, it has existed for more than 40 years. Employers who wish to bring in foreign workers must first establish that there are no Canadians who can do the job. They are required to advertise and prove they have made efforts to hire Canadians. They must interview any candidates who apply and explain why they are not suitable. An official from Service Canada reviews the submission and will only approve the job offer if they satisfy the official that they have made reasonable efforts to hire Canadian.
In recent years, some exceptions have been introduced as a result of international agreements such as CUSMA. In addition, employers have been allowed to bring in agricultural workers to do physical labour on farms across the country, but the basic premise of the foreign worker policy continues to be that, for the most part, employers who seek to employ foreign workers must first establish that there are no Canadians who can do the job.
However, in 2002 the federal government introduced the low-skill foreign worker program pilot program. Over the years, the program has expanded significantly. The result has been an influx of low-skilled workers who work at fast food restaurants and, for other employers, mostly in the service industry. These workers, together with the large number of foreign students, had a negative impact on the rental market and strained social services.
Given this context, it is not surprising that Poilievre and Eby are calling for an end to the foreign worker program. But the program has an important place in our economy. Companies must be able to bring into Canada the skilled workers they need to do their projects if there are no Canadians available. Moreover, there has always been a chronic shortage of agricultural workers, so foreigners must be allowed to fill that gap. Of course, we must ensure that agricultural workers are treated fairly, and this will require changes to ensure proper monitoring of employers.
There is, however, little justification for continuing the low-skill foreign worker program. There are Canadians who can do the jobs, and the inability of employers to find them is more likely a reflection of the low wages and poor working conditions offered. If we eliminate the low-skilled worker program, there may be higher costs in the service industry that would be passed on to consumers in the form of increased prices, but that is the price we will have to pay in order to ensure that employers only resort to the hiring of foreign workers when there are no available Canadians.
Certainly the experience over the past few years has highlighted the need to reflect on the purpose of this policy. There is no doubt that we still need to allow employers to bring in foreign workers if there are no Canadians who can do the work, but we should not allow them to hire people from outside the country in order to suppress wages in Canada. A serious review should lead to reform to ensure that the program benefits Canada and that all foreign workers are treated fairly and not subject to exploitation.
Lorne Waldman has been practising exclusively in the area of immigration and refugee law since 1979, the year he opened his own law practice, Waldman & Associates. He was co-counsel to Maher Arar at the Commission of Inquiry into his deportation into Syria. He has also been appointed by the Minister of Justice as a Special Advocate. Waldman is the author and editor of Immigration Law and Practice, a two-volume, loose-leaf service published by LexisNexis in 1992. He has appeared very frequently at all levels of the courts in Canada, including the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal, where he has argued many of the leading cases in immigration and refugee law. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada for his contribution to immigration and refugee law.
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