FOREIGN WORKERS:
Nenshi rips plan
Mayor Naheed Nenshi ripped both the temporary foreign worker program and the Harper government’s changes to it, saying a growing Calgary needs more access to working newcomers who can become citizens.
The mayor said Tuesday that the “current system strips people of their dignity.” But in comments that mirror those of Alberta government officials, Nenshi said Ottawa’s recently announced restrictions on hiring temporary labourers — especially in low-paying jobs — will hurt the city that added a record 38,508 this year.
“I think that the changes that have been announced by the federal government are not particularly responsive to the needs of Alberta in general and Calgary in particular,” Nenshi told reporters during the annual civic census release.
“We need migration in order for our system to work.”
Calgary’s mayor, whose parents immigrated from Tanzania in the 1970s, didn’t lay out his own solutions to the temporary foreign worker program. But he said the status quo is unfair to people working at Tim Hortons and in other service jobs.
“To treat people like commodities that come here for two years and serve us our coffee in the mornings, I don’t think is a particularly Canadian attribute,” Nenshi said.
“And I think we have to figure out ways to let people in and give them a path to citizenship and continue to live dignified lives, regardless of the job they do.”
Employment Minister Jason Kenney has argued that several businesses are overusing the temporary worker program in a way that distorts the labour market and keeps wages down. The program has been dogged by controversy, including allegations of misuse of temporary workers at three McDonald’s franchises in Victoria and a pizza restaurant in Weyburn, Sask., as well as reports that dozens of RBC employees lost their jobs to foreign workers.
Under the new rules, companies will still be able to hire low-wage workers in parts of Alberta with low unemployment, but they can only total one-tenth of a firm’s staff. They’ll also pay more for the privilege: $1,000 per employee, up from $275.
Alberta’s government has said the changes, announced in June, will hamper an economy already facing labour shortages. Alberta’s three Progressive Conservative leadership candidates have also criticized the federal reforms, as have business groups like the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and Restaurants Canada.
But Kenney told the Herald edi- torial board in June that employers — even in labour-hungry Alberta — simply need to do more to hire Canadians. He also acknowledged wages and prices may have to rise as a result.
“We believe there should be a market response, and that means responding to the scarcity of labour through higher wages and higher prices and more active recruitment measures,” Kenney said.
In 2013 alone, Ottawa approved approximately 240,000 temporary foreign workers.
Kenney said there are 1,200 businesses across Canada — the majority of which are in Alberta — where temporary foreign workers make up more than 50 per cent of the workforce, and an additional 2,600 where the figure exceeds 30 per cent.