Recently announced changes to the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program are not going over very well with some Westlock business owners.
While the changes do appear as if they would be good for some parts of the country where unemployment is high, McDonald’s owner Perry Rebagliati said they’re “very punitive” to Alberta in general.
“I’ve very disappointed with the changes that were made,” he said. “The Alberta economy is much different from the economy in other parts of the country and I think it would be safe to say there’s a labour shortage in Alberta.”
Changes to the program announced on June 20 include a stipulation that businesses with 10 or more employees can have no more than 10 per cent of their workforce be temporary foreign workers. That change is to be phased in by 2016.
“That’s the one that’s going to have the greatest impact on my business and on a number of businesses throughout Alberta,” Rebagliati said.
The change in the allowable number of temporary foreign workers is more nuanced than just limiting the number of temporary foreign workers to 10 per cent of a company’s workforce, he explained. It’s actually based on the number of hours worked.
So, in cases where a business has a lot of part-time local workers and fewer full-time temporary foreign workers, the actual number of temporary foreign workers would be less than 10 per cent to account for the disparity in hours worked.
Currently, Rebagliati said about 35 per cent of his staff are temporary foreign workers, and he figures a more appropriate limit would be 40 per cent.
However, what works for him in Westlock in terms of a cap might not be feasible in other communities because they each have their own unique employment and economic situations.
“It’s hard to mandate a number across the board,” he said.
That’s a sentiment Apollo Pizza and Steak House owner David Truckey echoed. In speaking with the owner of the McDonald’s in Cold Lake, he learned that restaurant is operating with a staff that is 80- to 85-per-cent temporary foreign workers.
“Their business couldn’t function without that level,” he said.
Communities with heavily oil- and gas-reliant economies, like Grande Prairie, Fort McMurray and Drayton Valley, would also suffer under the 10-per-cent requirement, he added.
While business owners like Rebagliati and Truckey are upset with the changes the federal government has introduced because of the potential negative impact on their businesses, they are also gravely concerned with how the changes affect the workers themselves.
“The one thing I think the government forgets very quickly is about the temporary foreign workers that are here in Canada and the amount of risk and stress that they have put these people on with all these changes,” Truckey said.
He talked about the impact the moratorium had on TFWs, especially the fact those who were caught by it were unable to work.
“Just imagine for yourself if tomorrow somebody said you can’t come to work and we don’t know when you can come to work and we don’t know how you’re going to support yourself or any members of your family that are with you in Canada,” he said.
Truckey added not only are those workers unable to work, they’re also unable to utilize any Canadian social agency except for the food bank.
For Rebagliati, it’s almost inconceivable how poorly the federal government is treating the TFWs.
“We value and respect all of our employees and to see the rug being pulled out from underneath them in such a quick fashion, it’s just mind-boggling as a country we’re going to do that to people,” he said.
And the changes don’t just hurt businesses and TFWs, either, Rebagliati said — local workers could also find themselves out of a job if their workplace is forced to close because not enough workers could be found to keep it running.
Ultimately, he said the changes to the TFWP are a heavy-handed, one-size-fits-all approach that doesn’t. He admits there are businesses that have abused the program and deserve to be sanctioned.
“But to throw an entire industry under the bus, or an entire sector of employers and employees under the bus is mind-boggling.”
