Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 12, 2017 8 NEWS Playing by the rules While the program should run in its intended fashion, stricter en- forcement could render usage of the TFWP pointless for Canadian employers, said experts. "It is definitely a message that the TFWP requires much more thorough and effective adminis- trative oversight and supervision in order to work according to the rules," said Jeffrey Reitz, a sociol- ogy professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs. "And if that's done, it's not clear to me that the program is really worth the trouble. The proper vetting and administration of the program would be so expensive as to make it possibly not really worthwhile as an option for Ca- nadian employers." e difficulty with the TFWP and its rapid expansion under former prime minister Stephen Harper was that proper adminis- tration and supervision failed to keep pace, he said. en, the government blamed employers for not being entirely clear about what they were go- ing to do with the workers they brought in, said Reitz. "But it's the government's job to administer its own programs and to vet the proposals." A total of 79,000 foreign work- ers were approved for positions in Canada last year — about one- third lower than typical numbers over the past five years. e TFWP should be Canada- first and enforced, but it also needs to be consistent, transparent and efficient, said Reis Pagtakhan, a corporate immigration lawyer at MLT Aikins in Winnipeg. "It's an important program… it has to be there to fill gaps in the workforce," he said. "One thing the government has to continue to understand is that just because there is a surplus of workers in one part of the country, there may be a shortage in another part of the country — come hell or high wa- ter, sometimes those people don't want to move. en, what do you do with industry in the other part of the country? You have to al- low them to be able to support themselves." But stricter enforcement and increased regulation will dis- suade employers from using the program, said Pagtakhan. "Absolutely, it will. You can see that in the numbers over the last few years," he said. "But we shouldn't dissuade people from using the program. We should simply be dissuading people from using the program improp- erly. When used properly, this can fill in important gaps in the workforce in various areas of the country in various industries and occupations." Changes will affect employers In its recent budget, the federal government set aside $280 mil- lion over the next five years — and $50 million each year after — to revamp the program. "We will continue improving the TFWP to ensure that it works for Canadians and for our econo- my," said Pascuzzo. Several changes have been implemented since the Liberal government took office in 2015, he said. ey include: •requiring low-wage employers to advertise job vacancies to under- represented workforce groups •working with industries that are heavy users of the TFWP to re- duce their reliance on foreign workers •establishing an employer liaison service in Alberta, to help pro- vincial employers find unem- ployed domestic workers before resorting to foreign help •committing to a pathway to per- manent residency for foreign workers •improving the quality of labour market information used in as- sessing Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) •ensuring better compliance by increasing on-site inspections. e changes will certainly have an effect on employers and HR practitioners across the country, said Diana Jamal-Samborski, an immigration expert at Kahane Law in Calgary. "I do think that this report is quite detrimental to a lot of em- ployers that rely on foreign work- ers," she said. "It's going to be a lot more difficult for small businesses to hire foreign workers." "ere's already quite a lot of paperwork that goes into play for hiring foreign workers, and now there's likely going to be additional requirements imposed. In addi- tion to having transition plans, I think what they're going to do is indicate that they now want more information on the applicants who are applying… and whether or not they were interviewed." Already, significant numbers of TFWP applications are rejected and costs are significant at $1,000 per applicant plus local job adver- tising fees, said Jamal-Samborski. "When employers choose to go down that strain, it's at a great cost. I don't think the majority of employers that access the pro- gram have the intent to abuse." While hiring domestic work- ers first is a great idea in theory, it doesn't always work out in practi- cal terms, said Jamal-Samborski. "In general, just because there's a high unemployment rate, that doesn't necessarily mean that those who are unemployed are able to fill the skill set that's re- quired in the labour market," she said. "It's not often that you'll see an engineer going to work at Tim Hortons, filling your coffee cup." "Right now in Alberta, there's a significant amount of individuals that are engineers who are unem- ployed, but there is (still) a demand in the food service industry." From temporary to permanent Ferguson's recommendations are "reasonable and a good idea if implemented correctly," said Pagtakhan. Yet, the big picture question re- mains: What does Canada want to do with the TFWP in terms of permanent residency? e program should in essence be a probationary permanent resi- dent program, he said. "That's really the big ques- tion that needs to be answered in the immigration system," said Pagtakhan. "e big hole in the TFWP in terms of transitioning people to permanent residency is with the lower-skilled foreign workers because there's no federal pathway for those individuals." "It has to be revamped to have a clear pathway to permanent resi- dency for people who are going through this program… and want to stay." e best path forward for the TFWP may be in removing the word "temporary" from its name, said Reitz. Foreign workers in lower- skilled positions often find it fea- sible to work "underground" past their terms, earning wages that are still much higher than what they would receive in their home country, he said. "ose folks have a strong in- centive to stay after their visas have expired." at scenario is leading to a large pool of undocumented im- migrants in Canada, which could eventually become a larger social problem, said Reitz. Is program worth the effort? TFWP < pg. 1

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