Federal by-election candidates sound off on Temporary Foreign Workers program

The challenges of the federal Temporary Foreign Workers program are a hot topic among local business people, so at a time when the area prepares to pick a new Member of Parliament, it has been on the minds of those running to replace former Conservative MP Brian Jean in the Fort McMurray-Athabasca riding.

The Conservative government brought in a moratorium on using the program in the food service industry in April after accusations that employers were firing Canadians to bring in temporary foreign workers. Businesses in areas like Lac La Biche, where lucrative construction and oilsands gigs vacuum up a host of skilled and unskilled labour, have said that without the program, they may have to close their doors.

"There is some abuse, obviously. It's not primarily in our community, up north here, because there's high employment in our community," said Conservative candidate David Yurdiga. "The government had to do something for areas that already had high unemployment (where the program was) taking jobs away from Canadians, and it wasn't designed for that."

Conservative MP Brian Storseth, from the neighbouring riding of Westlock-St. Paul, met with the Lac La Biche Chamber of Commerce May 22 to talk about how the program should change. Storseth said that the moratorium would end in early June, and the government would introduce changes, primarily to increase enforcement.

"Going forward, I think it's going to be very positive, the changes," Yurdiga said. "I think it's going to be a lot better for our communities and people involved in the program, to have better access to TFWs."

But one of his opponents, Liberal candidate Kyle Harrietha, was critical of the announcement, coming during a by-election, which indicated an early-June date that he said hasn't been announced yet.

"I'm surprised to learn that Mr. Storseth is communicating when the moratorium's going to end, because I haven't learned about any communications from Minister Kenney," Harrietha said. "It would be unfortunate if they were playing political games with the timing of something that's affecting business so fundamentally."

Storseth said the information had been disclosed by the minister the previous week, though a FAQ on the Ministry of Employment and Social Development's website still says the moratorium will be lifted only when the review was complete.

Harrietha said the program was necessary and the moratorium had hurt industry, but it should focus on its original purpose of filling jobs as a stop-gap measure.

"Calling to scrap it is not productive to our continued prosperity in this region... and not doing anything about it and allowing to program to be undermined this way, as the Conservatives have done, has really created some problems," he said.

The Liberal Party has announced a five-point plan to fix the problem, which includes scaling back the program, a commitment to a permenant path to citizenship for immigrants, a review of the program by the Auditor-General and tightening up the Labour Market Opinion (LMO) process used to ensure a business needs a temporary foreign worker.

NDP candidate Lori McDaniel said the issue with the program is enforcement, and said it should be conducting more audits.

"Certainly there are industries and businesses that are handcuffed if they don't have the manpower they need, but they need to prove that," she said. "When someone does get an LMO... the government should be coming in to make sure that they know their rights, that they fit the profile."

She also questioned the economics of a business that couldn't survive without temporary foreign workers.

"Is there really a need of multiple businesses if all these businesses are always using temporary foreign workers?" she asked. "If there's 18 contracting people that have front-end loader businesses... and you know that these other businesses can't find workers, why are you starting up a business?"

McDaniel said that though unemployment is low, it still exists in this area, and businesses should be training workers.

"I've seen it myself. My own brother can't get a decent job, my mother travels from back east to come out here to find work," she said. "It touches me personally, let alone seeing friends and family that applied... and they didn't get the job."

Libertarian candidate Tim Moen said that the program is a response to poor immigration policies that don't permit enough legal immigrants to fill jobs, and criticized the way contracts can trap a worker with a particular employer.

"This is a temporary stop-gap measure, I guess, to try to overcome the immediate shortage of workers we have, and it creates less-than-ideal situations," he said. "Employees are threatened with deportation if they don't agree to less-than-ideal standards with employers. I've run into people who are too afraid to say anything about the way they're treated at work.

"We've created conditions that are allowing for a form of human trafficking, and so it's not a great solution."

Harrietha said that the issue of a labour shortage is a subset of broader issues caused by infrastructure deficit.

"We want hard working people moving to our region," he said. "While this needs to be addressed and it's a serious issue, there are far bigger issues in this riding, especially infrastructure, that have to be addressed by the federal government."

Yurdiga said that municipalities needed more help with infrastructure in able to increase housing development, which would help bring workers into the area.

"Housing costs are expensive. People moving into the community, they have to be able to access housing," he said. "So by assisting the municipalities with their infrastructure needs, hopefully that will entice people to develop more."

Newly-appointed Green Party candidate Brian Deheer said he needs to consult before offering a statement about the program. The by-election is on June 30.