A Commons Industry committee report recommends broadening the federal migrant labour program to include restaurant workers and construction trades, as MPs complain about the chronic labour shortages in those sectors of the economy, according to the Blacklock’s Reporter.. Tim Hortons .“Employment and labour market participation rates have reached near record highs while job vacancies have grown,” said the committee report Small And Medium Enterprises In Canada: Charting A Competitive Future. .“This picture is complicated by regional and sectoral disparities.”.“The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was put forward by witnesses as a means of addressing immediate labour shortages and as a potential source of permanent immigration,” said the report. .“But to achieve these goals, witnesses said the program must be made more flexible on the needs of employers including small and medium-sized enterprises.”.Federal permits for migrant labour date from a 1966 Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program that allows farmers to import labour from Mexico and the Caribbean on eight-month contracts. .The committee recommended simplifying “the process for employers hiring temporary foreign workers by agreeing to expand certain categories of workers whose tasks and skills are similar, particularly for staff working in food services, agriculture, and construction.”.The report also recommended the department of Industry “undertake as soon as possible a full review of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to adapt it to better meet the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises while eliminating any negative impact on the wages and conditions of Canadian workers.”.Witnesses to the committee complained about the ongoing labour shortages across the country..“More than one in two are affected by labour shortages,” Canadian Federation of Independent Business Senior Vice-President Corinne Pohlmann told the committee..“This grows to almost two in three in Québec and almost three in four businesses in the construction sector.”.“Modernize the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” said Québec Council of Employers CEO Karl Blackburn. .“It has truly become outdated and does not reflect the reality in which we currently find ourselves.”.A 2021 report by the department of Employment said migrant labour costs jobs and wages in some trades. .“The impacts of the wage program may be significant in sub-labour markets,” said the report Evaluation Of The Temporary Foreign Worker Program. .“Wage suppression might be occurring in specific sectors and situations.”.Research suggested migrant labour costs Canadians jobs and higher pay in construction, trucking, beauty salons, restaurants, fish processing, and farming “where foreign workers are willing to work for lower wages than what a Canadian or permanent resident would consider acceptable.”
