EXCLUSIVE: BC Conservative leadership candidate admits firm hires TFWs — but only as 'last resort'

BC Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer has addressed concerns over his firm's hiring of temporary foreign workers. He explained that of the 549 people employed at A&W locations owned by Western Restaurant Franchises Inc. — a subsidiary of Fulmer & Co. — only 46 were hired via the TFW program.Only one temporary foreign worker is employed at Fulmer & Co. itself, while the other businesses the firm owns do not have any."I am proud of each and every one of my restaurants and the teams that run them," Fulmer told the Western Standard. "It's always my priority to not only hire local workers, but to invest in them by training them up for future opportunities similar to the support I received early in my career at A&W."He went on to explain that "Canadians have always had first priority," and that "we try repeatedly to hire locals but in some instances, especially in smaller communities, we’ve accessed the TFW program as a last resort to keep a restaurant open for the people who rely on it and the local staff who make up the vast majority of the workforce.""Our team consists of 503 local workers (91.6%) and 46 TFWs (8.4%)," Fulmer added. "Every day my teams do what David Eby and the NDP never could: build a strong business and drive BC's economy."In 2024, the federal government set the cap on temporary foreign workers in such positions at 10%..Fulmer announced his candidacy on Tuesday, vowing to "pull together the big blue tent.".Yuri Fulmer officially launches bid for BC Conservative leadership."I have spent my life doing things other than politics — building a business, doing a lot of community work, doing a lot of community building, and obviously raising a family," he told the Western Standard, "so I hope that all of those experiences combined equip me to be the next premier."Fulmer added that "the advantage of being a bit new to this is I'm going to find my own way through it.""I don't feel obliged to anything from the past," he explained, "so I've got a remarkably baggage- free — politically baggage free — past. I'm ready to roll."