Foreign Workers: Foreign Workers

Foreign Workers Dept: It is always less costly, politically and financially, for governments to do their homework and fix unintended potential problems ahead of time, whether through a white paper process or consultations, than to reform policy, or live with flawed policy, after the fact, according to Vancouver Sun. It will be necessary to bring temporary foreign workers to Canada at times to keep various sectors fully staffed, although it should not be seen as a long-term solution to labour needs. Temporary foreign workers have long helped with harvests across the country and, more recently, have been hired in the resource sector. Alberta, not surprisingly, has seen the fastest growth in the number of temporary foreign workers hired in recent years and six months ago, the federal government announced changes to the country's Temporary Foreign Workers program that had potential implications for the future of both immigration and work in Canada. The changes would fast-track the program in some cases and allow employers to pay workers less than other Canadians. With that program now under review, it is difficult not to conclude that some of those implications weren't fully considered before the policy changes were announced. Still, the review of the rapidly growing program is welcome. The government should consider reforms - or at least enough resources - that make the program more difficult to abuse and better able to protect workers. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.