Foreign Worker: Foreign Worker

Foreign Worker Dept: The Harper government's stated goal is to ensure Canadians are given the first chance at available jobs. While this goal is good, it is nothing new. For years, Canada has essentially had a "Canada first" policy when it comes to hiring foreign workers. With some exceptions, Canadian businesses must first attempt to recruit from the domestic workforce before they go overseas to hire. What is needed is concrete action, not a restatement of old goals, according to Winnipeg Free Press. Once businesses file their application to hire foreign workers, processing times can be monstrous. For businesses that have not hired a foreign worker in this process in the recent past, wait times in the last year have been as long as four months. If a foreign worker needs a visa to come to Canada, an additional number of weeks or months can be added to the process. In the last 12 months, it was not unheard of for some employers to wait nearly a year for their foreign worker to arrive. This program must be more responsive to business needs and LAST week, the government announced in the federal budget it is going to reform the immigration program that allows businesses to hire foreign nationals to fill jobs in Canada. In theory, many of these proposals are good. The test will be whether the federal government can implement a program that ensures that if there are no qualified Canadians available, that foreign nationals can come to Canada quickly to fill these vacant positions. Currently, most employers that hire foreign workers must advertise for 14 days in a variety of ways before a foreign worker can be hired. The government dictates where these ads must be run and also some of the content of these ads. For instance, almost all ads must contain information on the salary or wage that will be offered. If the wage range for the job does not meet the median wage for a similar position in the same area, the business will not be allowed to hire foreign workers. While there is some flexibility on the wage, this is the general rule. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.