Starting next month the Canadian government will start enforcing its new rules on employing foreign workers.
The new rules were introduced by the Conservative government after increasingly frequent reports of worker exploitation in recent years – particularly during the economic boom of the mid 2000s, in which hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers entered Canada to ease labour shortages.
“There definitely was some exploitation of foreign workers,” said one Calgary business immigration lawyer. “Underlying all of these regulatory changes for the foreign worker program is that we recognize… that we are an aging population and that foreign workers – skilled and lower-skilled – are going to be key to our future growth.”
The new regulations will limit the amount of time that a temporary foreign worker can stay in the country. Furthermore, more monitors will be placed on Canadian employers who use foreign workers.
Employers found to be in violation of any rules will face harsher punishments. Some could even be “blacklisted” on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.
However, some legal experts are concerned over the political can-of-worms that could be opened if Canada’s largest, most powerful companies find themselves on the “blacklist,” their international reputation tarnished.
Source: Saskatoon Star-Phoenix