Temporary Foreign Workers

The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program has allowed Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are not available. The TFW program was created in 1973 and has four main streams: low and high wage, primary agriculture and global talent. There has been a lot of controvery around the program more recently in the media and there have been recent change to the program. The Canadian Chamber has been active on this portfolio: https://chamber.ca/?s=temporary+foreign+worker with recent activity including a response to the UN Report on the TFW program: https://chamber.ca/news/response-to-un-report-on-temporary-foreign-worker-program/. 

We urge the government to adequately listen to the concerns of employers from various industries. Workers who come to Canada under the TFWP act as personal support and long-term care workers in addition to helping thousands of small and medium employers outside of urban centres find the workforce they need in their communities to keep agricultural products harvested, processed, prepared and transported to consumers in cities across Canada. The continued success of the TFWP is essential to the care of many elderly Canadians, the sustainability of farming operations and our food supply, and the affordability of goods for Canadian families. 

Why this matters: Foreign Worker programs have allowed Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill jobs when qualified Canadians are not available, filling a gap in the labour market, particularly in rural markets, or in highly specialized jobs where there are limited qualified or skilled candidates, allowing employers to continue to grow and boost productivity.

If you have experienced challenges with the temporary foreign worker program or if you have feedback on how the program has been beneficial for your business, let us know by emailing policy@southeastalbertachamber.ca, as we would like to share your stories with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce to use in their advocacy. Your stories make a difference in the effectiveness of our work.