Changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program Announced
The government announced new changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program yesterday. These changes are designed to ensure employers put more effort into recruiting and training Canadians to fill available positions.
The proposed changes are as follows:
- effective immediately, require employers to pay temporary foreign workers at the prevailing wage by removing the existing wage flexibility;
- effective immediately, temporarily suspend the Accelerated Labour Market Opinion process;
- increase the Government’s authority to suspend and revoke work permits and Labour Market Opinions (LMOs) if the program is being misused;
- add questions to employer LMO applications to ensure that the TFWP is not used to facilitate the outsourcing of Canadian jobs;
- ensure employers who rely on temporary foreign workers have a firm plan in place to transition to a Canadian workforce over time through the LMO process;
- introduce fees for employers for the processing of LMOs and increase the fees for work permits so that the taxpayers are no longer subsidizing the costs; and
- identify English and French as the only languages that can be used as a job requirement.
To see the press release, go to: http://nouvelles.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?mthd=tp&crtr.page=1&nid=736729&crtr.tp1D=1
