Liberals say they will rein in temporary foreign worker program after historic influx

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Sunday that the federal government will curb the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) coming into the country after a post-COVID surge that some researchers say has driven up youth and immigrant unemployment rates.

Speaking to reporters in Dartmouth, N.S., before the start of a Liberal cabinet retreat in neighbouring Halifax, Fraser justified the government's past decision — made while he was immigration minister — to relax regulations around the TFW program as necessary at a time of pandemic-related staff shortages.

But he acknowledged that the dynamic is different now that there are signs of stress in the labour market.

Unemployment rates among immigrants and young people have crept up to concerning levels in recent months, according to federal data.

"The landscape has changed. We don't see that acute labour shortage that existed even two years ago. As the economic landscape changes, so too must the policy landscape," Fraser said.

"You should expect to see in the future additional changes that will ensure that the programs we put in place to help grow the Canadian labour force first and foremost create opportunities for Canadian workers."

Fraser did not offer any specifics as to how many TFWs will be admitted in the future or what aspects of the program could change now that the government has identified the program's explosive growth as a problem.

The minister said Canada can absorb the number of new permanent residents being added each year — the country will admit an expected 485,000 immigrants in 2024 — but conceded that non-permanent immigration programs allowing foreign workers and students to come here on a short-term basis are putting stress on an already strained housing supply.

Fraser said the temporary foreign worker program has historically been driven by what employers say they need without much of a hard cap. The government could impose more restrictions to get those numbers down, he said, while still accommodating those businesses that truly need the program to build a workforce.

The agricultural sector has long relied on TFWs to grow and harvest the food the country eats and exports.

"We've seen such a significant increase despite the fact we no longer have the labour shortage in existence to the degree it was two summers ago. That demands we take a different approach," Fraser said.

The number of non-permanent residents has been growing at a breakneck pace in the post-COVID era after the federal government relaxed regulations around TFWs — especially in the "low-wage" stream — and allowed Canada's colleges and universities to dramatically expand the international student body.

In the last three years, the number of non-permanent residents — a category that includes TFWs, international students and asylum seekers — has more than doubled from about 1.3 million in 2021 to nearly 2.8 million in the second quarter of this year, according to data compiled by Statistics Canada.

Of that figure, 1.3 million people are in Canada on work permits — a category that includes TFWs.