Author: Azadeh Haidari-Garmash, RCIC
Curtains Close on Canada's Era of Cheap Foreign Labour
Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Wednesday said “the age of unlimited supply of cheap foreign labour is over,” and that employers may need to offer higher wages to attract more Canadian workers.
Speaking to reporters after addressing the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, Miller also suggested the federal government may be looking at boosting enforcement resources to crack down on irregular migrants who don’t leave Canada, and addressed the need for mutual enforcement of the Safe Third Country Agreement with the U.S.
Miller said it’s important to address what is sometimes a “very disproportionate relationship between employers and employees” when it comes to low-cost temporary foreign workers.
“There are exploitative relationships that exist, and we need to crack down on them. That includes a proper wage,” Miller said, pointing to some low-wage sectors like agriculture and food processing.
“It’s clear that the age of unlimited supply of cheap foreign labour is over, and I think that is a good thing,” he said.
However, he acknowledged crackdowns mean “this year and the next year will be one of turbulence” as those changes take effect, “but bringing the numbers down, I think, is very important to making sure that we aren’t simply chasing short-term gain for a lot of long-term pain.”
Canada this year limited the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers in most sectors and boosted their minimum wage in an effort to end employers’ reliance on cheap foreign labour.
