3 days ago
Swift News
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wants the federal government to axe the temporary foreign worker program, saying it has flooded the market with cheap labour and made it harder for young Canadians to find work.
"The Liberals have to answer, 'Why is it that they are shutting our own youth out of jobs and replacing them with low-wage, temporary foreign workers from poor countries who are ultimately being exploited,'" Poilievre said in Mississauga, Ont., on Wednesday.
The Conservatives say that while they want the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program scrapped, they will create a separate, standalone program for legitimately difficult-to-fill agricultural labour.
Canada already has a separate immigration stream for farm workers called the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) that allows employers to bring in workers from Mexico and other participating Caribbean countries.
Poilievre stressed that he doesn't blame the temporary foreign workers themselves but the Liberal government and "liberal corporate elites" who he says are exploiting these workers to enrich themselves.
"Not long ago, young Canadians could gain vital skills in entry-level jobs, earn enough to pay for school and build a future," said Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner in a statement. "In return, employers built a skilled domestic workforce. But the Liberals broke that deal."
Poilievre said that while the Liberals promised a cap of 82,000 TFWs in 2025, the federal government has already handed out 105,000 permits.
"If they do the same number of permits for temporary foreign workers in the next six months that they did in the last, they will break the record again," Poilievre said.
