Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - February 2008
Canada’s growing dependence upon foreign workers to ease labour shortages was solidified last week when Immigration Minister Diane Finlay announced the expansion of the temporary foreign worker program into Ontario and the Atlantic provinces.
The program, which has been operating in Canada for many years, will open offices in Toronto and Moncton, to help ease the pressure on overwhelmed offices in Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary.
Until recently, the program’s workers were mostly restricted to low-skilled professions such as care-givers and workers in the agricultural field. However, the labour shortage in Canada of late has resulted in a significant expansion of the program to include more jobs, particularly in the hospitality sector.
In Alberta, a severe shortage of workers in the service industry has resulted in many businesses such as restaurants and hotels having to close during their busiest seasons due to a lack of staff. The severe shortage has driven up wages significantly and workers in this sector can expect to earn as much as $15 per hour, which is almost double the province’s $8 per hour minimum wage (the rate which usually sets salaries in this field).
Alberta’s recent boom, as well as the needs of all other Canadian provinces has the driven numbers of temporary foreign workers up by 32 per cent in the last five years. Last year alone, Canada accepted 125,000 temporary workers.
By establishing the new offices in Ontario and New Brunswick, the Ministry of Immigration hopes to ease the burden on employers who are unable to find the labour they need. However, workers advocates are still concerned about abuses to the temporary workers, who are often not fully aware of their rights and can easily be taken advantage of. They argue that the government should be focusing as much money and energy on preventing this as they are to expanding the program.
Source: The Canadian Press, February 12, 2008
