Human Resources Minister Diane Finley: Foreign Workers

Foreign Workers Dept: While the government insists consultations have been ongoing for some time, the pressure was on to step it up and make real changes late last year after it came to light that a British Columbia coal mine was granted permission to hire 201 temporary Chinese migrants. The plan was ultimately halted following widespread outrage over the lack of effort put into finding Canadian workers to do the same job, according to Calgary Herald. Critics have raised concerns about the over-reliance on temporary foreign workers, about 191,000 of whom came to Canada in 2011. Concerns have also been raised about the treatment of temporary foreign workers by Canadian employers and the government which recently announced foreign workers could be paid 15 per cent less than Canadians and cut special parental, maternity and compassionate-care benefits to some migrant workers OTTAWA Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Human Resources Minister Diane Finley quietly kicked off a series of stakeholder consultations on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Ottawa Wednesday with an aim to improving the problem-plagued regime by the end of the year. Canadian pilots have also complained about the program, saying Charter airlines are hiring foreign pilots for the busy sun destination seasons at the expense of unemployed and underemployed Canadian pilots. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.