Shane Simpson: Let’s turn temporary foreign workers into Canadian citizens
Good enough to work here, good enough to live here
At the beginning of this month, the Canadian of Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) made a strong, sensible call for an overhaul of Canada’s temporary foreign worker program. These small and mid-sized businesses examined the program and came to the same conclusion as New Democrats, labour leaders, and human rights advocates—that we need a program with a clearer path to citizenship, not the current program that is abused as an opportunity for cheap labour.
Unfortunately Premier Christy Clark does not agree, and is instead trying to use the flawed current program as an option for multinational companies to sidestep B.C. workers and instead access cheap labour for LNG development.
That flies in the face of Premier Clark’s promises to B.C. voters. New Democrats have always said that British Columbians, no matter when they arrived here, need to be first in line to benefit from LNG. If these companies want to benefit from our resources they need to offer something to British Columbians in return.
If we need more workers for LNG or any other sector we should invite workers from elsewhere to move here permanently and make a life in our province. Continuing to expand the exploitative temporary foreign worker program is contrary to the best interests of our province and our country.
Despite what Premier Clark has said about the program offering citizenship, temporary foreign workers in entry level positions have no path to citizenship under B.C.’s policies. For most of these workers the only way to get citizenship is through the Provincial Nominee Program. But in order to qualify a temporary foreign worker must earn at least $21,282 a year. That’s more money than they could earn working full-time at minimum wage.
If they have dependents, such as a child, spouse or parent—even if the dependent will remain in their country of origin—the income requirement is even higher still, making it harder to unite families. And if temporary workers are in certain occupations, such as retail, they’re disqualified entirely.
Unlike Premier Clark, whose only solution to these issues has been to suggest that the name of the program be changed, the CFIB, New Democrats, and the labour movement are calling for massive changes to the program that would protect the rights of these workers and offer them a clearer path to citizenship.
These businesses are tired of having to either cycle through worker after worker, or go through a lengthy, expensive and complicated process to try to get their temporary workers permanent citizenship.
These businesses are also tired of competing with unscrupulous employers who take advantage of temporary foreign workers, refusing to pay them their full wages, breaking labour and safety laws, and engaging in other abuses.
Unlike Canadians and landed immigrants, these workers are tied to a single employer. If they quit their job they have to leave the country. This massive power imbalance, combined with a lax enforcement of labour laws, puts these workers in a precarious position that leaves them vulnerable to exploitation.
These kind of labour practices aren’t just wrong and unfair for temporary foreign workers themselves—they are bad for Canadian workers and for businesses that play by the rules. By allowing these kind of abuses to go unchecked, the B.C. Liberals have created perverse incentives for unscrupulous employers hoping to save on basics like holiday pay and overtime to turn to temporary foreign workers over local workers.
New Democrats have long said that anyone who is good enough to work here is good enough to stay here. We know that traditional immigration is good for Canada, and is a chance for families to make a permanent life in this country.
Comments
13 Comments
Steve y
Dec 8, 2014 at 12:31pm
totally disagree. Too much immigration has made vancouver practically unliveable. We should cancel temporary foreign worker program entirely and reduce immigration by half to meet a more typical balance of immigration.
Yes
Dec 8, 2014 at 2:01pm
About time. Embarrassed that we treat these people like second-class citizens.
RUK
Dec 8, 2014 at 3:59pm
I think the author is a nice guy and it's a nice sentiment, but the fact is that the visa came with conditions and one condition was that they go home at the end of it. That was the deal, and if they don't like the deal, they should not have signed it.
The bigger issues is why any country that has significant numbers of unemployed people needs to look to the developing world to raid its best tradespeople. Either our schools and apprentice programs are not turning out good people, or good people are not getting into them. Either way, that seems like a solvable problem. Let's employ our kids and neighbours first. Then, and only then, look to immigration to solve our employment needs.
Would that be more expensive for Canadian companies? Not at all. Our tax money already strains to address the many and horrific problems that come with chronic underemployment in this country. Employing Canadians is the right approach from a business case.
And from the moral side, the NDP should be arguing for a shut down of the program, not arguing that it is a loophole for wannabe landed immigrants.
Bikerck
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:07pm
no one can choose their country of birth. That's why immigration limits are an obscenity and an affront to the most basic human freedoms. Only the privileged can find a rationale to condemn millions of people to poverty. Open borders are a win for everyone.
http://openborders.info/
and....
Dec 8, 2014 at 7:34pm
this is why I will never vote NDP.
Ex-farmworker
Dec 8, 2014 at 8:40pm
When we already have thousands of more qualified people wanting to come to Canada why should TFW get to go to the head of the line? Furthermore why should we bring in people who are barely, if at all capable of supporting themselves financially, when we have self-sufficient professionals who wait years for permanent residency? Why would we bring in someone who can't even manage to make a measly $21000/year, just so they will compete with all the low-income and unemployed people already here for jobs and housing. Because that is what those in power want. The reason low-skill TFW even exist is to create more competition for low-wage jobs so they can undermine the bargaining power of low-income workers and further drive down their standard of living. Why is the NDP supporting this agenda?
Ronnie Lonnie Ding Dong
Dec 9, 2014 at 5:00am
@RUK
Yes, let's employ our kids and neighbours first.
Wait! The companies don't want to, because they've captured the government and are colluding with politicians to bring in foreign labour whether we like it or not. Because, you know, the same assholes keep getting in, again and again, and they keep getting cockier and cockier... for some reason. We could object but then...
Wait! our kids and neighbours don't want to either. Years and years of acculturation has taught our children that the trades are "low" work with no prospects. Just bad knees, bad backs, bad lungs, and hard times. Never mind that the money's good, safety has improved by leaps and bounds over the years, and we're desperately short of tradespeople to service our aging population's homes and society's infrastructure. Higher education is the cult of today's grey-haired voluntary one-childer helicopter parents, even if their kid loves to build things, doesn't like to read, and won't remember shit from all those classes he took to get that B.A. and won't make the grade to get into nursing school or engineering school.
And, of course, everyone wants to live in the city. No one wants to go "out there" to run a crane for three weeks at a time or weld pipes just because it pays well. And so they scrape by, underemployed in the service sector which always sucks, slowly paying off those loans from Mom and Dad's house, or skipping from job to job never or barely cracking $60000/year, blowing the balance on an overpriced mortgage and bitching about immigrants.
If people want change they need to stop fucking scapegoating and moaning about how things oughtta be. The large scale retooling of labour supply will be expensive, but necessary, but after decades of corporate capture and neoconservative austerity no government is going to voluntarily go in the red or tax business to train young Canadians to do the jobs that need to be done. They need to be forced. Election coming up. Volunteer.
@Yes
Dec 9, 2014 at 8:28am
That's because they are NOT citizens of Canada.
stu
Dec 9, 2014 at 8:54am
I fully agree, and we have a program for that, known as the immigration program. I support a stream for families to come over as low skilled workers, but only if they can find a job that pays living wages.
Tommy Khang
Dec 9, 2014 at 10:47am
@RUK 1) poor trades education infrastructure - BCIT and other technical institutes have long waitlists of people trying to get into programs. 2) Trades in general have a poor reputation among certain cultural groups in BC and I think amongst young people in general 3) In BC especially, too many people not wanting to go where jobs actually are.