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Canada to cut 65,000 people from Temporary Foreign Worker Program

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Canada to cut 65,000 people from Temporary Foreign Worker Program

Canada aims to reduce the number of workers under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by about 65,000 people so that more Canadians and permanent residents have access to entry-level jobs.

The announcement was made by Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development, and Official Languages, at a cabinet retreat in Halifax, NS, alongside Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities.

“We want to see Canadians and permanent residents have access to entry-level jobs in what has been known as the low-wage stream up to now. It’s also an important part of our overall program to have more compliance in the temporary foreign worker program and also to stamp out abuse,” said Boissonnault. 

What is Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program?

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is a government initiative designed to fill labour shortages in key industries across the country while promoting economic growth. 

While the program was initially rolled out to nurses and farm workers, it today allows both high-skilled and low-skilled workers to work in Canada. Know more here

‘We’re no longer dealing with the same labour shortage’

This latest decision to reduce the number of people coming to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program comes on the heels of another one, which aimed to bring down the number of temporary workers from seven percent to five percent of the current workforce. 

“This is an important aspect today of making sure that we have a system in some areas that’s gotten overheated that is under control,” said Miller. “We’ll continue to do that to make sure that the people that are here temporarily are properly welcomed here. But the welcome to Canada, obviously, is not boundless and we have to make sure that it makes sense in the current economy for Canadians obviously, but also for the job market as it continues to constrict and we won’t hesitate to take additional measures if necessary.”

“Over the course of the last few years, we’ve been through some very interesting times as we were coming out of the pandemic,” explained Fraser. “We saw the news articles being written, we were focused on a record labour shortage with a million jobs that were open in the economy. We took a decision as a government at the time to listen to businesses then who said that thousands of them may potentially close that could impact the livelihoods of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers. As the landscape has shifted, we’re no longer dealing with the same labour shortage that we were dealing with even just a couple of years ago,” he said. “So, the policy landscape has to shift.”

Also read: Immigration Levels Plan 2024-2026: Canada aims to slowly stabilize PR arrivals

More announcements are expected soon

Fraser added that more changes are likely to be announced by Fall to balance immigration to reduce pressure on services such as healthcare and housing and ensure immigration stays in line with the economic needs of the country.

“The temporary programs have historically responded not to a level set by the federal government, but by the demand that we see from institutions in the case of the International Student Program and employers when it comes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” he said. 

“When we see employers who are, despite changes in the rate of unemployment, making a significant number of applications to bring workers here for jobs that Canadians could do, we need to change course,” he added.

Also read: Study permit capping among measures taken to protect international students in Canada

Apart from changes to temporary programs, changes to Canada’s permanent residence program may also be on the horizon, especially with unemployment among newcomers hovering around 12 percent. 

“If you look at the market that has contracted significantly, the jobs that were needed three years ago are no longer needed anymore,” said Miller. “That adjustment isn’t necessarily linear or obvious,” he added. “And it’s something that we need to account for as we make these adjustments and announce to the public every year what those three-year levels should be.”

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