OTTAWA — The Liberal government's decision to reel in the temporary foreign worker program after loosening the rules to help businesses find workers after the pandemic is sparking a contentious debate about whether governments should even try to addr
OTTAWA — The Liberal government's decision to reel in the temporary foreign worker program after loosening the rules to help businesses find workers after the pandemic is sparking a contentious debate about whether governments should even try to address labour shortages.
Business groups have been in favour of more immigration and temporary foreign workers to help with labour shortages, but economists are pushing back against the notion that governments should intervene. According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.
Palmerin-Velasco said there are many low-skilled jobs that need to be filled, including in small communities where changing demographics are making it even harder to find workers."If have to increase those wages by a lot to attract workers, who is going to pay for that? Cost is going to be passed on to consumers at a time when our economy is not looking great," she said.
Premiers applauded the federal government's decision to increase its annual immigration targets. Ontario Premier Doug Ford was particularly vocal about the need for more immigration to help fill job vacancies.
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