The federal minister of labour failed to address concerns about the shortage of unskilled labour in Jasper during a lunchtime meeting, July 10.
Instead, Kellie Leitch talked at length about the government’s investments in the skilled labour force and reiterated there will be no changes to the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program.
“The prime minister has been very clear: Canadians come first for Canadian jobs,” said Leitch, the federal minister of labour and minister of status of women.
Since the government changed the TFW program in June 2014, many local businesses have been unable to attract and retain employees, said Bernhard Schneider, general manager of Mountain Park Lodges.
“In our company, as an example, we normally employ 350 people, we are currently 45 to 50 people short,” said Schneider, who was also speaking on behalf of Jasper’s hospitality and tourism sector.
“We need the government to have a better understanding of regional needs and allow exemptions to the foreign worker program as granted in Yellowknife.”
In response, the minister highlighted the government’s Provincial Nominee Program and exemptions to the TFW program in Alberta. The Provincial Nominee Program allows provinces and territories to nominate immigrants who have the required skills, education and experience necessary to contribute to the economy.
“We’ve actually increased the number of people available to the provincial nominee process and we’ve changed the threshold with respect to when people are eligible for additional TFWs,” said Leitch, in reference to a one-time exemption for Alberta businesses struggling to fill their labour needs.
In February, the federal government made an exception to the program in Alberta to help TFWs transition to permanent residency, if they had already applied under the Alberta Immigrant Nominee Program and risked having their work permits expire before their applications were processed.
Under the new measures, TFWs who had been in Alberta in 2011 or earlier could apply for a one-year bridging work permit as they waited for their permanent residency applications to be assessed.
In addition, the government provided a one-time exemption so these workers would not be counted against a rule that allows businesses to have no more than 10 per cent of their workforce made up of TFWs. This rule only applies to businesses with 10 or more employees that are attempting to hire moreTFWs.
The exemption was supposed to provide relief for businesses struggling to fill their labour needs, but has so far failed to help businesses in Jasper.
“It’s an absolute joke,” said Schneider, referring to the program. “They’re really not interested in what we have to say and what people are going through.”
He said about 70 per cent of his workforce is made up of temporary workers, the vast majority of whom are on working holiday visas from Australia, New Zealand or Eastern Europe.
If media reports are correct, those visas could also be under threat.
In January The Globe and Mail obtained documents outlining discussions between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander that indicated the government was considering major reductions to International Experience Canada (IEC). The IEC provides young people from 32 different countries around the world the opportunity to travel and work in Canada through programs such as working holiday visas.
The documents indicated the government has decided to delay any reforms until 2016, but highlighted the government’s concern that Canada accepts more young workers from overseas every year than the number of young Canadians that are accepted to work internationally.
In an email to the Fitzhugh, Citizen and Immigration Canada denied the government is considering any reduction to IEC.
“The International Experience Canada program is creating valuable skill development opportunities for those who use it, which is why we have undertaken a series of initiatives to increase Canadian participation,” stated Sonia Lesage, a communications officer for Citizen and Immigration Canada.
“Our focus is on increasing participation and reciprocity with our partners. We are not contemplating a reduction in numbers at this time.”
Schneider warned that any move by the government to reduce the number of people allowed to enter Canada on a working holiday visa would be disastrous for Jasper’s hospitality industry.
“If that’s the case then we might as well close our hotels, because there are no Canadians interested in doing these jobs.”
Schneider said Canada is going through the same thing Western Europe experienced 70 years ago when European countries couldn’t get their own citizens to work low-skilled jobs, such as housekeeping or washing dishes.
To fill the void, countries opened their labour market to people from Southern Europe who were willing to work.
“We’ve spent thousands and thousands of dollars trying to find people in Canada and we go to Australia, the Czech Republic, England, you name it, to try and recruit just so we can handle the volume of visitors to this destination,” said Schneider.
Pattie Pavlov, the general manager for the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce, said she wasn’t surprised by the minister’s remarks last week, but that she was hoping the minister might hint at some sort of change to the TFW program.
“It’s a multi-pronged problem,” said Pavlov, about Jasper’s labour shortage.
“Jasper is not the cheapest place in the world to live and there is a housing shortage,” she said, adding there also isn’t enough work during the shoulder seasons to keep people employed throughout the year.
Paul Clarke
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