Liberals Take Real Action to Fix Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Protect Canadian Jobs

April 16, 2013

OTTAWA– Liberals are pushing the House of Commons to take immediate action today to remedy problems with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and ensure that it is used to complement and not replace the Canadian workforce, said Liberal Human Resources and Skills Development and Labour critic Rodger Cuzner.

“The TFWP was designed to supplement Canadian workers in cases where there is a shortage in our domestic labour force that we cannot meet,” said Mr. Cuzner. “Yet under the Harper Conservatives, the number of Temporary Foreign Workers has ballooned by 140%, and recent reports have shown that the program is being used to supplant Canadian workers in violation of the rules set up under the program.”

The Conservative government has feigned concern with how the TWFP is working, yet they have done nothing to fix it. Last November, following media reports that a British Columbia mining company brought Chinese miners to work in Canada via the TFWP despite a supply of domestic miners available to fill the jobs, the Conservatives pledged to conduct a review of the TFWP. To date, results from that review have not been released publicly.

“The Conservatives are again claiming that they will launch a review into the TFWP, but this is clearly just more smoke and mirrors,” said Mr. Cuzner. “While this government is content to let these problems persist, the Liberal Party is taking concrete action by calling on the House of Commons to urgently study the issue and come up with constructive solutions to fix the TFWP and ensure Canadians’ access to our job market.”

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Background:

The Liberal Oppositon Day Motion can be viewed here.