The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, has announced the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map. This goal of this initiative is to adjust and improve the TFW Program to meet Canada’s labour market needs.

 In February 2022, Canada added 337,000 jobs, bringing our unemployment rate to 5.5%. In BC alone, over one million job openings are forecasted over the next decade (2021-2031) based on the latest labour market research. 8% of these openings (83,000 positions) are listed as “additional supply requirements,” which are positions that remain to be filled after accounting for immigration, migrants from other provinces, and young people entering the workforce.

Five key policy changes will be implemented shortly as part of the TFW Program Workforce Solutions Road Map to respond to current labour and skills shortages. 

Effective immediately:

• To address seasonal peaks, there will no longer be a limit to the number of low-wage positions that employers in seasonal industries (i.e. fish and seafood processing) can fill through the TFW Program. This makes permanent the Seasonal Cap Exemption that has been in place since 2015.  The maximum duration of these positions will be increased from 180 days to 270 days per year.
• Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIAs) will be valid for 18 months, an increase from 9 months (prior to COVID-19, LMIA’s were valid for 6 months).
• The maximum duration of employment for High-Wage and Global Talent Streams workers will be extended from two years to three years. This extension will help workers access pathways to qualify for permanent residency, enabling them to contribute to the workforce for the long-term.

Effective April 30:

• For seven sectors with demonstrated labour shortages, such as Accommodation and Food Services, employers will be allowed to hire up to 30% of their workforce through the TFW Program for low-wage positions for one year.  All other employers will be allowed to hire up to 20% of their workforce through the TFW Program for low-wage positions until further notice, an increase from the former 10% cap for many employers.
• The Government will end the current policy that automatically refuses LMIA applications for low-wage occupations in the Accommodation and Food Services and Retail Trade sectors in regions with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.

Read the Employment and Social Development Canada press release here.

If you have any questions about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, please contact Levana Huang, BCTA Policy Analyst at LevanaH@BCtrucking.com or 604-888-5319 ext 219.