CIMM Committee Report

Dissenting Opinion of the Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada was pleased to contribute to the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration’s study on Closed Work Permits and Temporary Foreign Workers. While efforts were made to constructively work with members of the other parties to deliver a unanimous report, Conservative members of the committee ultimately found that the final report failed to capture key points and make important recommendations to improve the systems and programs businesses, farmers, and workers rely on to succeed. With this dissenting report, we hope to highlight these elements and lay out a path forward that would benefit all those who operate within the temporary foreign worker program (TFWP).

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program and Canadian Agriculture

Canada’s agriculture sector plays a considerable role in our economy. As highlighted by Peggy Brekveld of the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council, in 2022 “the Canadian agriculture sector generated $38.8 billion in GDP, or 1.9% of the national total.”[1] She further noted that:

Canada has established itself as a major producer of diverse and high-quality agricultural products. It ranks among the world's largest exporters, with $92.8 billion in agricultural and processed food exports in 2022.[2]

These economic successes are a testament to the hard work of Canadian farmers and producers, and the Government of Canada must ensure that they are empowered to continue building on these achievements. Access to labour is paramount to that end.

To meet the needs of a burgeoning Canadian agriculture sector, the TFWP must be focused on meeting labour market vacancies that, without TFWs, would not be met. As Brekveld stated:

In 2022, the agricultural sector, including crops and animal production, support services and agricultural wholesale, employed over 351,000 Canadian workers and 71,000 temporary foreign workers, including the seasonal ag worker program workers. Even with these additional workers from other parts of the world, the industry still experienced 28,200 job vacancies in the same year.[3]

In particular, rural regions rely on TFWs to meet otherwise unmet labour needs. Mark Chambers of Sunterra Farms told the committee:

This program has been a cornerstone in maintaining the balance of labour markets and safeguarding the interests of Canadians as well. It's especially true for agricultural and agri-food businesses. They are located in rural parts of Canada. We know that we have rural depopulation occurring in Canada, so recruiting Canadians to fill vacant positions can be very difficult.[4]

As these witnesses highlight, the TFWP serves an important function: to fill labour gaps in the Canadian economy. The program must, therefore, stay true to its purpose by ensuring that businesses have access to a reliable pool of labour where the Canadian labour market is unable to meet the need.

Kenton Possberg of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association warned that, given the challenges to the sector to find Canadian residents to fill the vacancies, moving towards an open work permit model for the TFWP could “lead to some significant unintended consequences.” He noted that:

If TFWs are given an open work permit upon arrival, it circumvents the whole process of employers recruiting Canadian workers for a specific job in their operation. Moreover, it could put employers, particularly those in the agriculture sector, at risk of losing employees when they are needed the most.[5]

Furthermore, Possberg made the distinction between a “push” versus a “pull” system for open work permits, saying:

A push would be the Canadian government saying, “Here are 40,000 foreign workers. Go find your jobs.” What we have in place right now is a pull. It's employers that have demonstrated that they cannot find Canadian citizens—in our case, for seasonal purposes—to work on their farms. They have to go through the process, demonstrate that, and get the approvals in place. It's a pull; they're demonstrating that they need that.”[6]

If the TFWP is meant to address labour shortages in specific sectors, an open work permit system “does not meet the goal.”[7] As the Canadian Bar Association’s Gabriela Ramo noted:

The purpose of having the temporary foreign worker program in itself is to address labour shortages where Canadians aren't available for an occupation. An open work permit allows anyone to work in any occupation. You might bring somebody in and think they're going to work on farms, but they could work in any other sector.

Given the importance of food security, and the reality of chronic labour shortages in the food sector, closed work permits provide predictability and reliability to a sector in which these qualities are in short supply. This stability helps employers using the TFWP to strategically invest in their employees, especially considering the significant financial costs associated with installing workers in their positions.

Chambers told the committee that while under the agricultural stream there is no cost to apply for a Labour Market Impact Assessment, if you're outside of the agricultural stream “the cost of each application is $1,000.”[8] He further pointed out that there are additional costs to consider on top of that as employers must go overseas, or use a third party in another country, to find workers.

Additional challenges exist due to the amount of time it takes to get all of the approvals required to hire TFWs. As Possberg suggested:

Under the current temporary foreign worker program, the [Labour Market Impact Assessment] needs to be submitted six months or more in advance to get all of the approvals in place. Not only do we need to get the LMIA approved, but we also need to get the application for the work permit approved. The processing time for LMIAs has improved substantially in recent years, but the work permit processing time continues to be unpredictable. Depending on the country of the resident, it takes up to six months to be approved. It also takes time and money to attract and recruit these individuals.

The length of time it takes for businesses to receive approvals has a large bearing on their operations. Brekveld noted that when TFWs do not arrive on time, producers face the prospect of losing “entire crops”.[9]

In order to better support the farmers and businesses who rely on TFWs, the Government of Canada must refocus its efforts on ensuring the system is agile and responsive to sectoral labour shortages.

Recommendation 1: That the Government of Canada establish a stand-alone agriculture and agri-food temporary foreign worker program separate from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Responding to Comments of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery

The Conservative Party of Canada expresses its deep concern with the decision of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Tomoya Obokata, to call the agriculture stream of the TFWP a “breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery.”^[10] His baseless accusation comes despite the fact that he didn’t make an effort to personally visit a farm during his 14-day visit to Canada.[11]

The Canadian Bar Association’s Gabriela Ramo affirmed that, following a legal definition, she was unaware of any instances of slavery in Canada.[12]

Responding to Obokata’s accusation, Kenton Possberg of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association expressed his view that “As a Canadian farmer, that offends me. There was a lot of sensationalism coming into play with some of it, and it disturbs me that it received the level of press it did.”[13]

We note the failure of the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller, to condemn the Special Rapporteur’s comments and defend the hardworking Canadian farmers who rely on the TFWP to fill legitimate labour needs and make every effort to ensure TFWs in their care have quality, safe working conditions. When the Minister was asked if Canada’s Ambassador to United Nations, Bob Rae, had spoken to the Special Rapporteur or made a statement on behalf of the Government of Canada in response to the report, he simply said that he didn’t know whether Ambassador Rae “beats to anyone's drums.”[14] This implies that the government didn’t particularly care if this report would be addressed through the proper channels or not. It is this lack of seriousness that concerns Conservative Members of Parliament: the NDP-Liberal Government doesn’t seem to care if tens of thousands of Canadian farm families are slandered by a petty United Nations bureaucrat.

The Conservative Party of Canada strongly condemns the exploitation and abuse of vulnerable workers and expresses its full support for the existing abuse prevention measures in place. We also support stiff punishments for employers who fail to treat their workers with the dignity and respect they deserve. At the same time, we reject the view of the Special Rapporteur that the TFWP represents a “contemporary form of slavery” and acknowledge the deliberate efforts of the vast majority of Canadian farmers to provide safe, quality work environments for the TFWs they rely on.

Recommendation 2: That the Government of Canada condemn in the strongest and most unequivocal terms the report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur.

Recommendation 3: That the Government of Canada, in consultation with industry, develop qualifications and standards for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program that strike the right balance between addressing chronic labour shortages in various sectors and ensuring workers are treated with fairness and respect.

Responding to Proposed Recommendations

The purpose of the TFWP must be to address chronic labour shortages in struggling sectors. Recommendations 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, and 13 would create additional red tape, reduce reliability and predictability employers need to succeed, and diminish the TFWPs necessary focus on meeting unmet labour needs.

Conservatives agree in principle with recommendation 6 which recommended more onsite inspections. We heard from farmers and other stakeholders that they welcome more onsite inspections to ensure compliance against the few bad apples that has perpetuated the false narrative put forward by the opponents of the TFW program. Indeed, as we learned compliance rates are very high, in the mid-ninety percent. However, our concern with this recommendation lies with the open-ended nature that this wasteful NDP-Liberal Government may interpret it as a signal to spend more money on bureaucracy, rather than focus inspections as required; therefore we are opposed to it as written.

Conclusion

The Conservative Party of Canada recognizes the important contributions of TFWs in the Canadian economy, and especially in our agriculture sector. The Government of Canada must maintain the core function of the TFWP and ensure it empowers Canadian farmers and businesses to succeed while actively defending against abuse of workers using the existing tools at its disposal.

Respectfully Submitted,

Brad Redekopp, MP – Saskatoon West

Vice-Chair, Standing Committee Citizenship, and Immigration Committee

Tom Kmiec, MP – Calgary Shepard

Official Opposition Shadow Minister for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Larry Maguire, MP – Brandon-Souris

Greg McLean, MP – Calgary Centre