According to experts, 3 problems with temporary foreign activists programs and 3 possible reforms

The temporary foreign activist program is once again in the headlines, when the conservative leader Pierre Pilevre asked to end it, recently blamed foreign workers for an increase in youth unemployment, who said hovering About 14.5 percent In summer.

Some? Economists Caution against drawing a straight line between programs and difficulties that young Canadian people face to find work.

But it is not to say that the temporary foreign activist program does not have other possible deficiencies. For YearExperts have expressed concern about the program – which allows businesses to appoint foreign workers when they can show Canadian citizens or permanent residents are not available to take jobs – and the extent to which some employers have come to trust it.

According to the data of the federal government, 238,157 temporary foreign activist jobs were approved in 2024 in 2024. This is almost the same number, but much above 108,988 in 2018, before the epidemic. Some new boundaries were finalized on the program Fall,

Here is a look at some concerns related to the program – and experts say that some possible solutions may be.

Problem 1: Low wages, low innovation?

Are businesses Necessary To give temporary foreign workers equal pay as their Canadian counterparts.

But some economists Dislike the program -The especially low-laborer stream-because they say that it can reduce wage growth and discourage innovation in a long time. (The program includes many “streams”, such as seasonal agricultural stream, low-labor stream and high-wisdom stream.)

Without temporary foreign activists, economists say that a business struggling to find workers will have to increase wages to either attract or use applicants New type of technology To reduce the number of people of its need.

Temporary foreign activists program, they say, gives employers another option. Employers can hire a person outside Canada who is more inclined to work for his advertised wages, so there is no need to offer more money.

Christopher Versvick, an economist at the University of Carlton in Ottawa, said, “Not only does it capture the potentially fixed salary, it can invest less in new technology.”

Business and industry groups object to this characterization, arguing that if the program is closed, especially in rural and remote places, there will be closures, job loss and high consumer prices.

General Manager of Osborne Burke, Victoria Cooperative Fisheries In Niels Harbor, NS said that his community is not enough to provide employment to the local people. His co-op has been increasing his early wages over the years, he said, but it did not make any difference.

“I cannot hire people who are not present,” Burke said.

Problem 2: Strength imbalance

Because the permits of temporary foreign workers are associated with an employer, the program has a power -ripened imbalance, that said Jason Foster, Professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations at the University of Human Resources and Labor Relations.

In the best form, he said, workers need to walk carefully to lose their jobs and avoid getting out of the country. The worst, he said, workers are openly benefited.

“Your employer holds all cards in the context of your fate in this country,” said Lisa Jane de Gara, a disposal activist with action for healthy communities, which helps new people in rural Alberta.

D Gara said that many temporary foreign workers coming to their organization for support have paid thousands of dollars to immigration brokers or advisors to secure their jobs. Others report that their boss pays them a certain wage on paper, then ask a large part of it to pay back under the table.

“I think this is a program that has damaged a monumental amount,” he said.

Restaurant Canada CEO Kelly Higinson said that Federal security The workers exist to support the workers who have been misused, but that most of the business owners in their area follow the rules.

“If there are bad actors, they have no place in our industry,” he said.

Some businesses also suggest that in seasonal industries, equal labor returns to the year -door because they are treated well.

Problem 3: This is a yo-yo

This is not the first backlash against the temporary foreign activist program. In response to the growing unemployment in 2008 and in 2014, Pushback against the program gave rise to new rules prohibiting the program. Said Economist Mikal Scooterud.

In 2014For example, Ottawa brought new borders, reducing the number of low -pay workers, renting a business per site, and restricting the program in areas of high unemployment.

These were the rules Loose Coming out of epidemic, partially in response to concerns about lack of labor, with some Limit It was resumed in the collapse of 2024.

“Maybe this is the time to take a look at this program and provide an improvement that is more permanent, which is not back and forth by changing the unemployment rate every time,” Skutrud said. “More than anything, we need an immigration system that is transparent, it is estimated.”

Labor relationship specialist Jason Foster agreed.

Foster said, “It seems that they open after the flood, then they go,” Ah, we did a lot, “and so they closed the gate again.” “All while anyone … is trying to detect a long -term improvement for a flawed program.”

Fix 1: Wind it down

Skuterud said the program should be phased, and a new fee structure There can be a way to do this.

If they want to hire a temporary foreign worker, businesses already have to pay the fee. But moving forward, he suggested that fees may vary depending on local employment rates and businesses, with rising costs for businesses that keep relying on the program to fill year -to -other jobs.

For a long time, he said, the low-skilled streams of the program should be fully phased out. He suggested a period of three to five years, to give businesses a chance to adjust and invest in new technology.

The program can continue on a small scale, Skutrud said, “There is a way to bring workers quickly in industries such as tech and post-medical education, which can then infection in permanent residences.”

Burke with Matsya Cooperative said that if the program disappeared, the lack of workers in the area would mean that fisheries and other seasonal businesses would stop, and unemployment will increase.

“It would be a big disaster,” he said.

Skuterud admitted that if the program is over, some businesses would be closed, but said that the trade is one General Part of a well -working and competitive economy.

Carlton Economist, Versvik also said that the program should be phased. He said that the government should resume its efforts to speed up the process of permanent immigration.

“This can be done, it is a matter of bureaucracy moving quickly.”

Fix 2: Include government (more)

Labor relationship expert Foster said that Ottawa should take more hands, restrictive roles in determining which businesses should be allowed to hire temporary foreign workers.

“(Business) does a better job to justify their use of the program, and give the government a more active role in determining whose applications are the strongest,” Foster said.

As a measure to promote transparency, the government may also need large national brands, which to apply for all its desired positions at once, instead of individually to the owners of the franchise, said, de Gara said, the disposal worker said.

If it became clear that a particular national chain was applying for a large number of posts abnormally, it said that it could raise the question about why.

D Gara said, “With those types of things in the open, the opportunity to say is very high, ‘Oh, yes, really it’s something different to us,” said D Gara.

Fix 3: Playground level

Foster said that temporary foreign workers should be given open work permits. This would give workers the ability to change jobs, such as Canadian citizens and permanent residents, which they said would make them less unsafe for potential misconduct.

The Varvik agreed, saying that if the program cannot be phased, the open permit is another good solution.

Nevertheless, he said, “I suspect that if they did so, the program will be very less interested in the program by employers.”

Foster also said that the government should accept the reason that many temporary foreign workers accept their jobs in the first place: to establish a leg in Canada.

He said that the program should allow more routes for permanent residences for these workers, with more transparency about those routes and the criteria workers will need to meet to get it.

“(The program has already built that dynamic, so let’s give it a formal form,” he said.

Burke said he would support more routes for permanent immigration as it would allow their business to expand their operations throughout the year.

Others, such as Scuterud, say that the country’s immigration system should be focused on prioritizing high-skilled workers.

For business leaders Burke and Higginson, he said that they are open to the temporary foreign activist program, but insisted that they think it should continue.

“Let’s sit with the industry and make a chat and work on the solution,” Burke said.