As the recently announced restrictions to the federal government's temporary foreign worker program (TFWP) continue to pose significant problems for business owners throughout Alberta, provincial Minister of Skills, Jobs Training and Labour Kyle Fawcett was in town last week to assure the local business community that the province would continue to fight the feds to secure the necessary reforms to the controversial program.
Speaking before a crowd of roughly 50 business owners at the Shaw House on Aug. 27, Fawcett said coming to an “acceptable resolution” with the federal government would be a “top priority” for the province once a new leader is announced this month.
“I think it's clear to see just from listening to the three candidates running for leadership that this is going to be an important issue for the government of Alberta moving forward,” Fawcett said. “Alberta has a long history of taking on Ottawa on issues it feels it's not being heard. We think we've tried to offer solutions to the federal government, we've made a number of proposals that we feel would be acceptable and we haven't heard anything back, so maybe some time in the near future we'll have to think about taking a different approach on this issue.”
He added, “What we need to do more than ever is continue to push hard to get the appropriate changes or relief for something to be done about this program. Right now, with things the way they are, we are going to see businesses in Alberta dying, and that simply isn't acceptable.”
Federal employment and immigration ministers Chris Alexander and Jason Kenney unveiled a series of “crippling” reforms to the temporary foreign worker program in late June that businesses would have to meet should they wish to use the program. Those changes included a new cap on the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers an employee could hire at each worksite, while a new rule was implemented stating employers would now be required to re-apply every year for approval to hire workers instead of every two years.
The fee to apply for a labour market opinion (LMO) also saw a heavy increase, jumping from $275 to $1,000 per worker, while the maximum time a temporary foreign worker will be able to spend in Canada has been reduced from four years down to two.
Fawcett branded the “one size fits all” mentality the federal government has used in implementing these changes as “ridiculous”, stating that the province would be pushing for an exemption from the changes similar to the one afforded to the province of Quebec.
“My opinion and the opinion of the provincial government is that this one size fits all overhaul of the program does not work for Alberta,” Fawcett said. “At best, it's short sighted of the federal government to think that way, but to go one step further, this is quite simply bad economic policy and unless we see changes, it will have a lasting negative economic impact in our province and in regions like the Lakeland.”
He added, “Right now, the temporary foreign worker program is very, very important to Alberta and I think it's important that we do what we can to stop these changes in their tracks and protect our business community.”
Over the course of the morning meeting Fawcett brought up a number of ideas the province has to try and alleviate issues facing small business owners, including the creation of a workforce consultant position in the Lakeland to help businesses tap into previously unknown resources and the implementation of a new Alberta job grant, designed to train workers to unique business needs, which will become available sometime this month.
With the issues surrounding the program stretching back almost six months after the federal government placed a temporary moratorium on all applications for workers, local business owners told Fawcett that something would need to be done soon, otherwise it would be too late.
“We hear about all of these ideas and changes and while we appreciate the provincial government supporting us on this issue, we don't have the time to wait to see what the federal government is going to do, we don't have time to wait for discussions to take place with the province,” one concerned business owner said. “For many of us out here, we have employees whose work permits run out in the next six months, what are we going to do then?”
She added, “The only option for a lot of us will be reducing our hours and closing our doors. Our government should not be forcing us to do that, it is wrong.”
Bob Buckle, owner of Original Joes restaurant in Cold Lake, spoke out several times at the meeting and, when speaking to the Nouvelle following the meeting, indicated local business owners had to be prepared for a “fight” with the federal government in the coming weeks and months.
“I think this meeting went as well as was expected, I think the province has a better appreciation for the urgency and issues small business are faced with in this community, which is nice to see,” Buckle said. “I can't say I'm feeling particularly encouraged though, because I have a feeling this is going to be a fight.”
He added, “I don't know the outcomes, but what I do know is we need to see some cooperation coming from our federal government and we need to see it soon, but if that cooperation doesn't come about, then there is going to be a fight and I think every avenue and resource should be made available to us for that fight.”
Sal Naim, owner of three small businesses in Bonnyville and one of the spearheads behind the local campaign regarding the issue, said if something wasn't done soon then the quality of life for people living in northeastern Alberta would be “drastically affected.”
“We're in a position now where we've done all that we can to make the federal government aware of our issues and unless something is done soon, we're going to start seeing closures in Bonnyville, we're going to start seeing businesses not able to maintain services and we're certainly not going to see any new commercial development in our area,” Naim said. “This chronic labour issue we're facing is a real issue and I think in 6 months to a year this community's quality of life will be very different from what it is today unless something is done and done soon.”