Dan Albas is the Conservative Party MP for the riding of Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola. This riding includes the communities of Kelowna (specific boundaries), West Kelowna, Peachland, Summerland, Keremeos, Princeton, Merritt and Logan Lake.
Contributions published by KelownaNow reflect only the opinions of those who write them, and not necessarily those of KelownaNow or its staff.
A topic recently garnering significant attention in Ottawa is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Trudeau announced a reduction in the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and hinted at potential further immigration changes.
At this point, we lack specific details—a recurring theme with Prime Minister Trudeau's announcements.
This recent reversal stems from changes the Trudeau government quietly implemented in 2022, significantly expanding the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. They eliminated the requirement that temporary foreign workers make up less than 10% of a company's workforce. Additionally, they allowed businesses in urban areas to apply for the program even when local unemployment rates surpassed 6%. Businesses promptly adapted to these new rules.
This has led to an unprecedented situation today, where the number of temporary foreign workers filling entry-level job positions in Canada is at an all-time high.
The 2022 changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program by the Liberal government have had major implications for our job markets. For example, many young Canadians struggled to find summer jobs in 2024. Youth unemployment (as of last month) stood at 13.5%—a level not seen for Canadians aged 15-24 outside of the pandemic since September 2014.
Unfortunately, this issue extends beyond youth. According to the Bank of Canada, the unemployment rate for immigrants in Canada now stands at 11.6%.
Another challenge arising from a surplus of labour for entry-level positions is artificially suppressed wage growth. This creates an extremely challenging situation for vulnerable entry-level workers, especially during times of high inflation and rising living costs.
.jpg)
These concerns about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program are not new and have persisted across different governments for many years.
However, what is unprecedented is the scale and scope of the problem created by the 2022 changes and expansion of the TFWP. This has led to a situation unseen before in Canadian history.
Locally here in our riding of Central Okanagan-Nicola-Similkameen, we have many temporary foreign workers in diverse areas of our local economy, most notably in food service and agriculture.
At this point, we don't know what hard and fast limitations and reductions the Prime Minister intends to implement. Beyond announcing some exemptions for certain areas like agriculture and construction, details are scarce. This propensity to announce without firm plans and targets has generated criticism outside from Opposition MPs like myself.
For example, the Bank of Canada—which is usually quite wary about commenting on government policy—in its latest monetary report described commitments made by the Trudeau Government to reduce Non-Permanent Residents (NPR) from 6.2% to 5% by 2027 as having "considerable uncertainty." The Bank noted that the number of NPRs actually increased between the Minister of Immigration's announcement of the goal in March and the Bank's report in July.
We'll have to wait and see if the Prime Minister's latest rhetoric becomes reality.
My question this week: do you support changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program? Why or why not?
I can be reached at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or call toll-free 1-800-665-8711.
