Global Trade Alert

On 29 April 2013, the Canadian Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, Diane Finley, and the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, Jason Kenney, announced reforms to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Among others:
- employers are required to pay all foreign workers at the prevailing Canadian wage rate for equivalent positions, thus removing wage incentives to hire foreigners;
- the Government's authority will have higher powers to suspend and revoke permits, if it deems that the program is misused;
- employers' applications will include a number of additional questions to make sure that the TFWP is not used to outsource Canadian jobs;
- ensure that employers relying on foreign workers are effectively planning to switch to Canadian workforce over time;
- increase processing fees for both employers and applicants.
 
Minister Kenney said that 'these reforms will require that greater effort be made to recruit and train Canadians to fill favorable jobs', because 'Canadians must always have first crack at job opportunities when they become available'.