Feds slash number of temporary foreign workers

Health care, construction, food security sectors to be exempt from tightened rules

- GHADA ALSHARIF

4.9% Canada's unemployment rate when Ottawa eased restrictions on temporary foreign workers in 2022

6.4% Canada's unemployment rate in July of this year

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday that his government will reduce the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers businesses are able to hire and that it is considering lowering the number of permanent residents Canada admits, calling on employers to hire Canadian workers instead.

“We will have, with today’s changes, about 65,000 fewer people participating in the temporary foreign worker program,” said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, speaking to reporters at the Liberal cabinet retreat in Halifax.

The federal government said it will refuse applications for low-wage temporary foreign workers in regions with an unemployment rate of six per cent or higher for most sectors.

It also announced that from now on, employers in most sectors will be limited to hiring a maximum of 10 per cent of their workforce from the temporary foreign worker program, down from 20 per cent.

Workers hired through the low-wage stream will be able to work a maximum of one year, down from two years.

The changes to the temporary foreign worker program will come into effect on Sept. 26 and workers in health care, construction and food security sectors will be exempt from the changes, Trudeau said.

Trudeau told reporters his government loosened the rules to help businesses facing labour shortages recover from the pandemic.