Over the past few years, the federal and provincial governments have announced deals to lure electric vehicle (EV) battery plant manufacturers back to southwestern Ontario. But Canadians were disappointed to hear that jobs building at least one of those plants were going to temporary foreign workers (TFWs).
And a few weeks ago, when the federal government was poised to make an announcement on TFWs, workers were hopeful that the government would be fixing the program, only to be disappointed that the very industries that most abuse the TFW program would be exempt from any fixes.
The changes announced by Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault are a step in the right direction, but they are just words on paper if they continue to exclude the very industries that most use the TFW program. In particular, the exclusion of the construction industry from these seemingly well-intentioned changes will not solve any of the negative impacts the program is currently having on Canadian trade workers.