Thank you for taking the time to support our effort to improve access to temporary foreign workers and support their transition to permanent residency and citizenship.

This questionnaire should take no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Your responses will be kept confidential and only used to produce summary reports.
BACKGROUND

The Government of Canada announced on Friday, June 20, 2014 a significant overhaul of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). This took place after detractors characterized the program as a pathway for large numbers of low-skilled, low-paid workers to enter Canada and take jobs from otherwise qualified Canadians. As well, recent scandals had highlighted employer abuse of the program, particularly in the food services sector.

There are a number of ‘streams’ for temporary foreign workers to come to Canada. The TFWP only encompasses streams that require government approval of jobs offered by Canadian employers. This approval comes in the form of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), which was formally known as a Labour Market Opinion (LMO). The TFWP will continue to be overseen by Employment and Skills Development Canada.

There are other streams that facilitate entry of workers who ‘significantly benefit the Canadian economy.’ These streams will now be classified as International Mobility Programs, and will be overseen by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Convenience store employees typically do not qualify for this stream. This Questionnaire therefore focuses on workers that need a Labour Market Impact Assessment Approval.

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* 1. Is the Temporary Foreign Worker Program important to your business? Why or why not?

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* 2. The new LMIA application process is more comprehensive and rigorous than the previous LMO process. Workers offered a salary that meets or exceeds the median wage in the province where they will work are considered ‘high-wage’.

Workers who will make less than the provincial median wage are considered ‘low-wage’. Under the new TFWP, low-wage workers can make up no more than 10 per cent of an employer’s workforce.

Here are the median wages in Western Canada:
British Columbia $21.79
Alberta $24.23
Saskatchewan $21.63
Manitoba $19.00
Nunavut $29.96
North West Territories $32.53

How does this impact your company or the industry in general?

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* 3. The LMIA application fee has been raised to $1,000 per employee requested. The fee was previously $275. In addition, employers requesting an LMIA will be required to provide detailed recruitment information, as well as plans for transitioning their temporary job to a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.

Does this impact your business? If so, how?

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* 4. Applications for an LMIA will not be processed if ALL of the following criteria exist:

• The LMIA is requested for a geographic area where unemployment exceeds 6%; and
• The LMIA is requested for an occupation in the Accommodation & Food Services or Retail Sectors; and
• The LMIA is requested for certain low-skilled occupations.

Are you able to make use of the LMIA process? If not, why?

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* 5. The Provincial Nomination Program (PNP) allows provinces to nominate individuals who wish to immigrate to Canada and who are interested in settling in a particular province. Provincial Nomination is an important fast-track option for Canadian Permanent Residency.

Your company could be impacted in situations where you have gone through this process before the new TFWP legislation, brought the people over, and spent the time training them. If they are not eligible for the PNP process but want to maximize their work permits, they would need to apply for an extension. However, under the new TFWP you would have to go through the LMIO process again to extend their work permit.

Would your company be impacted by this situation? How?

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* 6. Employers hiring workers in certain occupations will be eligible to have their LMIA applications processed in just 10 days. These occupations are as follows:
• Highest-Demand Occupations – Occupations classified as skilled trades;
• Highest-Paid Occupations – Occupations receiving wages in the top 10 per cent of wages earned by Canadians in a given province; and
• Shortest-Duration Occupations – Employers Seeking a foreign worker for 120 calendar days or less

Would your company be able to access this process? Why or why not?

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* 7. Last questions:

How many sites does your company have in Western Canada?

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* 8. In which location(s) are your site(s) most strongly impacted?

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* 9. Any further comments?

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* 10. Would you be willing to join us for consultations with public officials on the subject of the TFWP? If so, please provide contact information below.

THANK YOU!

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