Lexpert Magazine

LEXPERT MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2017 61 | IN-HOUSE ADVISOR: HIRING FOREIGN TALENT | foreign workers were employed in skilled positions. But the Liberal government, un- der Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, expand- ed provisions for unskilled labour in 2002, when 91,270 applications were approved. In 2007, the Conservative government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper increased TFWP funding by $30 million per year in an effort to speed application processing, and in 2008 a record 204,783 applications were approved, driven in large part by Oil Sands expansions and construc- tion for the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. But in her 2009 report, Auditor General Sheila Fraser said lack of over- sight le workers vulnerable to abuse and gave the government no clear idea whether employers met the terms and conditions of their approvals. She noted that the program was driven entirely by employer applications, with no target levels or limits on numbers of workers admitted. By 2010, according to Statistics Canada, nearly two-thirds of temporary foreign workers were classified as unskilled, by which time church groups and others were making headlines protest- ing substandard wages and working condi- tions of unskilled foreign workers. With criticisms mounting, in 2011 the Harper government made Labour Market Impact Assessments more rigorous, sharply increased the frequency of employer com- pliance reviews and introduced the "four- in/four-out" rule. e rule allowed foreign temps to stay in Canada for up to four years but then required them to leave the coun- try for four years before becoming eligible for re-entry. e change frustrated employ- ees and employers because it gave outstand- ing workers little or no way to transition to permanent status in Canada. Arsenault says there was a public per- ception that arose during this time that the Temporary Foreign Workers Program was all about acquiring "cheap labour" and that it undermined Canadian wage levels. "It's not a question of cheap labour," she explains. "It's costly and time consuming to hire a foreign worker. ey don't do that when they have a candidate in Canada who could do the job." Despite tightening restrictions, the TFWP continued to draw unflattering headlines. In 2014, Federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney announced a mor- atorium on the food services industry's use of the controversial program in view of "a significant number of allegations of abuse of the program, some of which appear to be quite flagrant, which were very disturbing to me," he said. Also in 2014, the federal government placed a cap of 30 per cent foreign workers in the workforce at any one location, moved that to 20 per cent in 2015 and 10 per cent in 2016. e government also increased application-processing fees from $275 per worker to $1,000. Aer Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won the 2015 federal elec- tion, the government fixed the cap on for- eign workers at 20 per cent in any one lo- cation and killed the four-in/four-out rule that limits foreign hires. But it retained the $1,000-per-person processing fee. Lexpert DealsWire is a great way to keep abreast of the significant M&A deals that are making news right now. It will examine and analyze key developments and trends as they happen and will report on the key players as deals are announced and closed both in Canada and around the world. Sign up today for bi-weekly email alerts at www.CarswellMedia.com/newswire/Dealswire GET THE LATEST NEWS AND VIEWS ON M& A

• Cover
• front
• BigDeals
• Back