Westlock’s provincial and federal politicians are unanimous in their condemnation of the recent changes to the federal Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
“I’m not impressed in any manner,” said Maureen Kubinec, MLA for Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock.
She said she’s spoken to a few business owners about their concerns and came away from those discussions convinced that “this does not help them at all.”
In fact, she is so frustrated with the changes and the impact they will have on the Westlock community that she was virtually speechless with rage.
Westlock—St. Paul MP Brian Storseth was a bit more measured in his words, but he too expressed his displeasure with the changes.
“It’s never easy to disagree with one’s own government, but at the end of the day, when it’s something that directly affects your communities and the people you represent, I think that’s the job of any leader to stand up and say, ‘No, this isn’t good for my community and I’m going to push to try and get some changes to it,’” he said.
Both Kubinec and Storseth spoke about the need for an Alberta solution or exemption, citing the fact Alberta has a vastly different labour situation than other provinces.
They also leveled criticism at the requirement that businesses with 10 or more employees will only be allowed to allocated 10 per cent of their hours to temporary foreign workers.
“I think the 10 per cent cap on percentage of hours worked for employees will be very difficult for many of our small businesses that are having a difficult time getting labour as it is right now,” Storseth said.
He also views the cap as having a negative impact on more than just the business owners.
Businesses already have fairly thin margins as it is, so if they’re forced to pay 20 per cent more for employees, they’ll more than likely pass that increase on to customers.
“Seniors on a fixed income will have a difficult time swallowing an additional cost at the grocery store,” he said.
Kubinec approached the 10-per-cent issue from a different direction.
She recounted a discussion with a restaurant owner whose busiest time of day is between 5-9 a.m.
With the 10-per-cent cap, it would make it more difficult to find workers, since students and mothers would likely be unable or unwilling to work those hours.
With finding workers a difficult task, the restaurant may be forced to reduce its hours, which would have a ripple effect throughout the economic food chain.
“Alberta’s situation is different than the rest of Canada at this time because we have so many people who come here for work and they work shift work and they need to have those services like food at odd hours of the day,” Kubinec said.
While Storseth has raised concerns with some changes to the program, he acknowledged the changes are not all bad.
“Everybody has agreed that those that are abusing the program need to be penalized and punished,” he said.
He also said the idea of a cap on the number of temporary foreign workers is in itself not a bad thing. However, it all comes down to how high the cap is.
“I don’t believe we should be starting new businesses with 100 per cent temporary foreign workers,” he said. “I believe that’s a flawed model.”
Going forward, both Kubinec and Storseth intend to continue raising their concerns with the program, in hopes of seeing changes that will serve the purpose of ensuring Canadians find and keep employment, while also ensuring Alberta businesses can remain successful.
For Kubinec, it’s also a matter of what she and the Alberta government can actually do to effect those hoped-for changes, seeing as the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is a federal program.
At the very least, she wants the lines of communication to remain open.
“I would hope there would be further discussion,” she said.
