Thread by @MikePMoffatt

Short thread time: How on earth did the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers nearly triple in 2022?

TL;DR - The federal government made some massive changes a mere 13 days after the Liberals and NDP signed the Supply and Confidence Agreement.

The low-wage stream allows Canadian employers to hire temporary foreign workers for jobs that pay less than the provincial median wage. Note that this doesn't include agricultural workers; that's a separate program. In Manitoba, that's $25/hr.

Source: canada.ca/en/employment-…

On April 4, 2022, less than two weeks after the Liberals-NDP signed their agreement, the federal government massively deregulated the Temporary Foreign Worker program to "address current job vacancies across many sectors and occupations."

Source: canada.ca/en/employment-…

One impactful change was weakening the rule that an employer could only have 10% of their workforce be temporary foreign workers. That got raised to 20%, and in some industries like "accommodation and fast food services" that got raised to 30%.

Source: canada.ca/en/employment-…

There had also been a rule that, for some occupations, a temporary foreign worker could not be brought in if the unemployment rate was 6% or higher.

That rule was waived, making employers in some high-unemployment regions now eligible.

Source: canada.ca/en/employment-…

This was a deliberate move by the federal government to suppress wage growth for low-income Canadians, and increase the number of temporary workers, who have much weaker labour rights than permanent residents.

And I cannot stress this enough: This attack on labour rights happened a mere 13 days after the Liberals and NDP signed their Confidence & Supply agreement, which gave the federal NDP more power than they've had in my lifetime (and I'm nearly 50).

pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-r…

We should note how destructive this program is for the TFWs themselves. The UN has criticized Canada:

"Agricultural and low-wage streams of the temporary foreign workers program constitute a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery."

Source: cbc.ca/news/politics/…

I consider myself on the progressive side of the Canadian political spectrum, and I think we need to acknowledge that we've completely lost the plot on the TFW issue. Our side did this and needs to undo it. Refusing to talk about the problem doesn't help.

/🧵

One thing I should add is that @carastern and I recorded an episode of Missing Middle on Canada's addiction to temporary foreign workers.

I have to admit - Cara figured out what was going on here faster than I did. She was right, I was wrong.

Watch now:

If you like these threads and like our Missing Middle videos, could you do us a big favour and subscribe (for free!) on YouTube. It would help us out a lot:

youtube.com/@MissingMiddle…