By Melanie Jacob
Journal Editor
During a luncheon on Sept. 10 at the Humboldt Golf Course, MP Brad Trost gave a speech and welcomed feedback regarding the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) and its recent changes.
He was able to shed some light on the concerns regarding the changes that limited businesses' access to foreign workers. Those changes included the implementation of a $1,000 application fee and a cap on the number of workers a company can bring over.
"We want to make sure there's cost recovery and we want to make sure the system is sound, that there's integrity, both for protection of workers that come into Canada and protection of businesses to make sure they're getting quality workers, and of course for Canadians who have sufficient work."
Regarding the worker restriction, Trost explained that during talks with various businesses, the federal government determined that most businesses were under the worker cap anyways.
"Some of the businesses that have said that (they would struggle with less access to TFW), when we talked to them have actually gone back and looked at the program and realized they aren't affected by these changes," said Trost. "The businesses I referenced in my speech that were concerned about the caps are not even going to be impacted by the them and when it gets fully implemented in two years, they're actually under those caps already."
Trost also cited the student-work exchange programs as another avenue as well. Although they weren't originally designed as a labour force program, they have become that, he said. Despite this, companies will still have to compete for these workers.
"You have to compete for those workers, because they do have options," he said. "They want to see Canada, they want to learn about Canada before they decide to either stay here or go back."
Regardless of what Trost says, there will still be some businesses negatively affected by these new changes. Small to medium-sized companies that can't afford the $1,000 application fee or have need of more than 30 per cent of TFW will struggle.
"There's going to a balance," said Trost. "There will still be some TFW in Humboldt, but I suspect they will be neither as few as some people want, or as many as other businesses demand, but that's the business of being a government. You look for a balance between the various sides of an issue."
Following his speech, Trost also received specific questions from concerned citizens and accepted contact information, saying that the more feedback they get, the easier it will be for them to deal with the issue and specific concerns.
