TIAC welcomes ( former) Federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney's adjustment to the Temporary Foreign Worker program in Alberta, and available to all provinces, that will support workers who are already pursuing permanent immigration.
TIAC has long maintained that while the TFW program is not perfect, it is one of the few tools tourism businesses have to address chronic and damaging labour shortages and that a long-term solution must include additional paths to citizenship for lower-skilled workers.
TIAC has been in constant contact with the government on this issue including participating in an Employers' Round-table with Minister Kenney and joining forces with the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, Restaurants Canada and the Retail Council of Canada to put additional pressure on the government (read joint letter here).
Minister Kenney stated in a letter to Conservative MPs that the government is issuing a one-time exemption from being counted under the cap on low-wage workers to temporary foreign workers in Alberta. This will allow employers to continue to fill labour gaps with additional TFWs while their employees who are pursuing citizenship through the provincial nominee program are processed.
A second measure will issue a one-time, one-year bridging work permit to allow workers who began working in Canada in 2011, and are still waiting for their permanent immigration applications to be processed, to by-pass the April 1st deadline to leave the country.
TIAC supports these measures and will engage the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, the newly-appointed Human Resources Minister, to work with the business community to alleviate the labour shortages faced by the travel and tourism industry from coast to coast to coast.
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