Social Policy in Ontario

Trouble in Stephen Harper’s backyard

Posted on March 12, 2015 in Policy Context

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TheStar.com /Opinion/Commentary – Prime Minister Stephen Harper has turned a deaf ear to pleas from his home province to save the temporary foreign worker program.
Mar 12 2015.   By: Carol Goar, Star Columnist

Tempers flared in Alberta when the federal government choked off the influx of low-skilled temporary foreign workers nine months ago. Now the anger is laced with anxiety.

By July 1, all employers must reduce the proportion of short-term migrants in their workforce to 20 per cent. A year later, the cap will be lowered to 10 per cent.

Economists, employers and the lobbyists in Canada’s once-favoured province call the plan misguided, discriminatory and anti-growth. Restaurants, fast-food outlets and hotels in Alberta will be forced to shorten their hours, reduce their services, in some cases close their doors, they warn. Canadians working in the food service and hospitality sectors will burn out. Absenteeism will rise. The province’s economy will suffer.

The latest gloomy forecast comes from the Canada West Foundation, a Calgary-based think-tank that usually publishes well-researched, informative studies. Unfortunately, its March 9 report, “Work Interrupted: How the federal foreign worker rule changes hurt the West,” falls short of that standard. It uses questionable assumptions. It overlooks — or downplays — pertinent facts.

“The 2014 changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program have created an unprecedented situation,” the study says, “It is unclear how employers will continue to fill these (low-wage) jobs.”

What bewilders Albertans is that Prime Minister Stephen Harper isn’t responding to their warnings and pleas. His government doesn’t even appear to be listening. They’re not used to this treatment. Their province is the Conservative party’s strongest bastion. Twenty-six of Alberta’s 28 seats are held by the Tories. Harper needs their support in the coming election.

To put this clash of wills in perspective, it helps to know a bit about the history of the temporary foreign worker program.

It was launched 42 years ago to assist employers who couldn’t find the specialized talent they needed in Canada. For 30 years, it remained small and uncontroversial. In 2002, on an experimental basis, the Liberals allowed employers in a few sectors to recruit low-skilled workers abroad. The take-up was modest.

When the Conservatives took power in 2006, they threw open the gates. Thousands of migrants poured in, eager to work long hours and send money home to their families. Seven years later the Tories loosened the rules again, permitting employers to pay foreign recruits 15 per cent less than the local median wage, despite internal studies showing the program was driving up youth unemployment and holding down wage levels.

In 2013, the party ended. CBC News exposed case after case of employers turning away Canadian job applicants and bringing in temporary foreign workers. Kenney tried to solve the problem by tightening the rules. He revoked the 15 per cent discount and his officials stopped rubber-stamping applications for migrant workers. But more abuses popped up. Finally he split the program in two, leaving the pipeline open for highly-skilled foreign workers and placing strict limits on the admission of low-skilled foreign workers.

The West’s sense of betrayal is understandable. The Harper government encouraged employers in Alberta to become dependent on migrant labour, then throttled the supply. What is not understandable is the rationale westerners use to defend the flawed program.

– The Canada West Foundation devotes just one sentence in its 12-page study to the oil price collapse that has sent Alberta into an economic tailspin. Since last summer, businesses have been downsizing, restaurants and bars cutting their hours or closing. Wouldn’t this obviate the need for migrant workers? Not according to the think-tank: “Although the recent drop in oil will ease the impact (of Ottawa’s decision) it is too soon to say by how much.”

– It dismisses the possibility of hiring jobless Albertans. “Not all unemployed people are willing to take a job that does not interest them or that they are not good at.” No mention is made of raising wages or improving working conditions.

– It is cool to the idea of recruiting aboriginal workers or people with disabilities. That might require government support and training. How much training does it take to pour coffee, take pizza orders or clean a hotel room?

– And it calls the impending clampdown discriminatory. Alberta will be hit six times as hard as Ontario, it points out. Although the numbers are accurate, the explanation is missing. Alberta is six times as dependent on foreign temporary workers as Ontario. They make up 1.7 per cent of Alberta’s labour force; 0.3 per cent of Ontario’s.

Kenney gave employers nine months to reduce their reliance on foreign temporary workers. In Alberta, they chose to protest. It might be a good idea to start hiring and training unemployed Canadians.

< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/03/12/trouble-in-stephen-harpers-backyard-goar.html >

Tags: disabilities, economy, globalization, ideology, immigration, Indigenous, participation, standard of living

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