Government announces restrictions for low-wage stream to 'prioritize Canadian workers'
The federal government is putting more limits on employers’ use of the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program.
“The Temporary Foreign Worker program was designed to address labour market shortages when qualified Canadians were not able to fill those roles,” says Randy Boissonnault, minister of employment, workforce development and official languages.
“Right now, we know that there are more Canadians qualified to fill open positions. The changes we are making today will prioritize Canadians workers and ensure Canadians can trust the program is meeting the needs of our economy.”
Recently, Ottawa announced that the 10 per cent employer cap on temporary foreign workers under the low-wage Stream of the TFW Program will apply across Canada. That includes occupations that fall under the Traitement Simplifié in Quebec.
An exception will be made for employers seeking to fill labour shortages in the healthcare, construction, and food processing sectors, which will be permitted to keep a 20 pe cent cap.
On Aug. 20, the federal government approved a request by the Quebec government to temporarily refuse to process new Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA) applications under the low-wage stream in Montreal.
Effective Sept. 3, 2024, processing of LMIA applications will be discontinued for six months for job offers located in the Montreal economic region with wages below $27.47/hour, which is the current Quebec median hourly wage.
LMIA work duration
The federal government also said that all LMIAs approved for low-wage stream positions will be limited to a work duration of a maximum of one year, including those processed under the Traitement Simplifié, except for occupations under the Primary Agriculture Stream.
Also, the Refusal to Process (RTP) policy will apply to all Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) with an unemployment rate of over six per cent.
An exception will be made for employers seeking to fill labour shortages in the healthcare, construction, and food processing sectors.
The CMA unemployment rate information will be updated four times a year, when the first Labour Force Survey of each financial quarter is published. The list will be updated on the same day that the data is published.
These changes come after Ottawa announced that, effective Sept. 26 this year, the government will refuse to process LMIAs in the low-wage stream in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of six per cent or higher.
Previously, StatCan released its Labour Force Survey for August, and the numbers showed an uptick in Canada's unemployment rate to 6.6 per cent.
The unemployment rate trended up since April 2023, rising 1.5 percentage points over the period. In August 2024, there were 1.5 million unemployed people, an increase of 60,000 (+4.3 per cent) from the previous month.
