Document Details

2011-03-24

Renato Gandia

Calgary Sun

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says scrapping the program allowing Canadian businesses to import labour from abroad would punch a dent in the growth of the Canadian economy.
“I can tell you, if we were to shut down the low-skilled temporary foreign workers program, there are hundreds, possibly thousands of businesses in the service sector that probably would have to go out of business,” said Kenney.
About two years ago, an owner of two Subway franchises broke down in Kenney’s Calgary office, lamenting how difficult it was to run the sandwich shops with no employees.
Kenney said the business owner hired Canadian kids at the $10/hour rate, but they often didn’t show up at work and those who did only stayed on the job for two weeks.
“Without some reliable temporary foreign workers, in that case low-skilled, (my constituent) was afraid he was going to lose his business and that his family would break up under stress,” he said.
Rob McGregor, who co-owns a number of Dairy Queen and Orange Julius kiosks across Alberta, said once you’ve had hardworking foreign workers on staff, it’s unimaginable to run shops without them.
When the scorching economic boom in Alberta hit a few years back, it was nightmarish to operate the business, he said.
On one particular day, 22 people were scheduled to work at McGregor’s kiosks in Calgary and only 11 showed up.
“I could not go back to dealing with that,” said McGregor.
“They completely saved our business … I couldn’t function now a days without them.”
Kenney said his department is attempting to strike a balance between allowing businesses to access foreign workers and encouraging Canadians to take the jobs.
“We’ve got this strange situation where the labour unions and the NDP are saying we should shut down the program and on the flip side, employers are saying it’s far too difficult to get workers, and we should increase access,” he said.
“We want to keep a handle on the program, but we don’t want people coming and end up being unemployed.”

Sales and service occupations - general

Policy analysis

Public awareness

Alberta

English