Labour market opinions to be processed in three to five days
Ken Mah knows just how difficult it is to bring a temporary foreign worker to Canada.
It took the Tim Hortons franchise owner in Camrose, Alta., almost seven months to hire just one person from El Salvador. Mah has applied for more than 15 foreign workers in the past year.
Meanwhile, he’s been forced to eliminate the graveyard shift at one of his two locations and he closes the other by 8 p.m. His shops are staffed, in part, by three home-schooled children, the youngest of whom is 12.
“That’s all there is,” he said. “All of the kids who are 15, 16, 17 — especially if they’re boys — are probably heading off to the oil patch.”
But the federal government has recently introduced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Alberta and British Columbia. The changes are supposed to help employers such as Mah find workers in 12 occupations facing the most acute labour shortages: hotel room attendants and front desk clerks, food and beverage servers, food-counter attendants, tour and travel guides, registered nurses, dental technicians, pharmacists, snowboard and ski instructors, retail sales clerks, carpenters and crane operators.
The pilot project allows eligible employers to receive labour market opinions (LMO) more quickly. The LMO assesses the potential impact of hiring foreign workers on the Canadian labour market and must be submitted before an employee can apply for a work permit.
In the past, employers had to undertake lengthy and comprehensive advertising efforts, and then provide proof with copies of things such as advertising, online job postings and job-fair presence.
The expedited labour market opinion (E-LMO) project circumvents that process. Employers that meet the E-LMO criteria, by guaranteeing in writing they’ve made every attempt to hire Canadians, will receive LMOs within three to five days, much faster than the typical three to five months. Service Canada has dedicated 15 staff to process the applications.
Mah said it’s about time.
“Everybody in Canada knows, unless you’ve been on the other side of the world, that there’s a labour shortage. They know that it’s a waste of time to keep doing these studies. Why would a Tim Hortons in Camrose have lots of staff and Edmonton be short? Everybody is short-staffed.”
Alberta foreign worker applications soar
The unprecedented labour market growth in Alberta and B.C. is driving the change. In the first six months of 2007, the federal government received 43,496 applications for temporary foreign workers in Alberta, a 210-per-cent increase over the same period in 2006. B.C. saw a 39-per-cent increase.
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) expects that trend to continue with the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and continued development of the oil sands in Alberta.
While many of the jobs eligible under the E-LMO are unskilled, there is a “critical” labour shortage in these occupations and they make up a large percentage of LMO requests from employers, according to HRSDC.
Labour shortage really a ‘wage shortage’
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour in Vancouver, scoffed at the suggestion there are no Canadians available to work as hotel chambermaids, servers or behind the counter of fast food restaurants.
“In most cases, there isn’t a labour shortage for those jobs, there’s a wage shortage,” he said. “Because the market today is driving up wages, they’re bringing in foreign labour to use them to drive down wages.”
Sinclair is concerned foreign workers won’t get the same protection as Canadians. B.C. is working with the federal government on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give more rights to temporary foreign workers.
Alberta signed a similar agreement in July. However, the MOUs don’t go far enough because temporary workers cannot leave their employer for two years, leaving them open to abuse, said Sinclair.
While immigration is necessary to fill some skilled jobs, he said the shortage of unskilled labour could be solved if employers paid more than the minimum wage of $8 an hour in B.C. and Alberta. Sinclair said employers in construction and other trades also need to provide more training.
“A lot of it is a problem of their own making,” he said. “Go into any community in this province and go into the major employer and you ask them one blunt question: ‘Are you training enough people to replace the gray hair in your trades lunch room?’ The answer is that I have yet to find any employer doing that.”
In Alberta, Mah laughed at the idea he would find more workers if he paid more. He’s already offering one-dollar-an-hour over minimum wage.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “If there are 200 positions in Camrose and you’ve got five people to fill those 200 positions, where on earth are you going to get the other 195 people, no matter what you paid?”
Mah is hopeful, however, foreign workers will give him a commitment he can count on for two years. He’s so optimistic that he recently paid $350,000 for a bungalow to house the workers once they finally start to arrive.
The E-LMO pilot project may be expanded to other provinces if it proves to be successful in B.C. and Alberta. HRSDC targeted those two provinces because of a dramatic increase recently in LMO requests. While Ontario typically has more requests, because it has more employers, it hasn’t seen a dramatic increase.
Danielle Harder is a Whitby, Ont.-based freelance writer.
It took the Tim Hortons franchise owner in Camrose, Alta., almost seven months to hire just one person from El Salvador. Mah has applied for more than 15 foreign workers in the past year.
Meanwhile, he’s been forced to eliminate the graveyard shift at one of his two locations and he closes the other by 8 p.m. His shops are staffed, in part, by three home-schooled children, the youngest of whom is 12.
“That’s all there is,” he said. “All of the kids who are 15, 16, 17 — especially if they’re boys — are probably heading off to the oil patch.”
But the federal government has recently introduced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Alberta and British Columbia. The changes are supposed to help employers such as Mah find workers in 12 occupations facing the most acute labour shortages: hotel room attendants and front desk clerks, food and beverage servers, food-counter attendants, tour and travel guides, registered nurses, dental technicians, pharmacists, snowboard and ski instructors, retail sales clerks, carpenters and crane operators.
The pilot project allows eligible employers to receive labour market opinions (LMO) more quickly. The LMO assesses the potential impact of hiring foreign workers on the Canadian labour market and must be submitted before an employee can apply for a work permit.
In the past, employers had to undertake lengthy and comprehensive advertising efforts, and then provide proof with copies of things such as advertising, online job postings and job-fair presence.
The expedited labour market opinion (E-LMO) project circumvents that process. Employers that meet the E-LMO criteria, by guaranteeing in writing they’ve made every attempt to hire Canadians, will receive LMOs within three to five days, much faster than the typical three to five months. Service Canada has dedicated 15 staff to process the applications.
Mah said it’s about time.
“Everybody in Canada knows, unless you’ve been on the other side of the world, that there’s a labour shortage. They know that it’s a waste of time to keep doing these studies. Why would a Tim Hortons in Camrose have lots of staff and Edmonton be short? Everybody is short-staffed.”
Alberta foreign worker applications soar
The unprecedented labour market growth in Alberta and B.C. is driving the change. In the first six months of 2007, the federal government received 43,496 applications for temporary foreign workers in Alberta, a 210-per-cent increase over the same period in 2006. B.C. saw a 39-per-cent increase.
Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC) expects that trend to continue with the upcoming 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and continued development of the oil sands in Alberta.
While many of the jobs eligible under the E-LMO are unskilled, there is a “critical” labour shortage in these occupations and they make up a large percentage of LMO requests from employers, according to HRSDC.
Labour shortage really a ‘wage shortage’
Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour in Vancouver, scoffed at the suggestion there are no Canadians available to work as hotel chambermaids, servers or behind the counter of fast food restaurants.
“In most cases, there isn’t a labour shortage for those jobs, there’s a wage shortage,” he said. “Because the market today is driving up wages, they’re bringing in foreign labour to use them to drive down wages.”
Sinclair is concerned foreign workers won’t get the same protection as Canadians. B.C. is working with the federal government on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to give more rights to temporary foreign workers.
Alberta signed a similar agreement in July. However, the MOUs don’t go far enough because temporary workers cannot leave their employer for two years, leaving them open to abuse, said Sinclair.
While immigration is necessary to fill some skilled jobs, he said the shortage of unskilled labour could be solved if employers paid more than the minimum wage of $8 an hour in B.C. and Alberta. Sinclair said employers in construction and other trades also need to provide more training.
“A lot of it is a problem of their own making,” he said. “Go into any community in this province and go into the major employer and you ask them one blunt question: ‘Are you training enough people to replace the gray hair in your trades lunch room?’ The answer is that I have yet to find any employer doing that.”
In Alberta, Mah laughed at the idea he would find more workers if he paid more. He’s already offering one-dollar-an-hour over minimum wage.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “If there are 200 positions in Camrose and you’ve got five people to fill those 200 positions, where on earth are you going to get the other 195 people, no matter what you paid?”
Mah is hopeful, however, foreign workers will give him a commitment he can count on for two years. He’s so optimistic that he recently paid $350,000 for a bungalow to house the workers once they finally start to arrive.
The E-LMO pilot project may be expanded to other provinces if it proves to be successful in B.C. and Alberta. HRSDC targeted those two provinces because of a dramatic increase recently in LMO requests. While Ontario typically has more requests, because it has more employers, it hasn’t seen a dramatic increase.
Danielle Harder is a Whitby, Ont.-based freelance writer.
