Close X
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
ADVT 
National

Minimum wage to hire higher-paid temporary foreign workers set to increase

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Oct, 2024 10:16 AM
  • Minimum wage to hire higher-paid temporary foreign workers set to increase
 

The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.

Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage. 

The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.

As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.

The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.

A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren't enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling. 

In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour. 

The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals. 

According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.

The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates. 

Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.

MORE National ARTICLES

Port Hardy homicide targeted

Port Hardy homicide targeted
Police on Vancouver Island say the deadly assault of a man in Port Hardy last weekend appears to have been targeted. Port Hardy R-C-M-P say they responded to a report of an injured person on Sunday afternoon, and the person later died of their injuries in hospital. 

Port Hardy homicide targeted

No injuries in Langley plane crash

No injuries in Langley plane crash
Mounties say no one was hurt in a small plane crash in Langley on Thursday. R-C-M-P says officers along with ambulance services responded to a report of a possible plane crash yesterday afternoon.

No injuries in Langley plane crash

Gruelling days and gratitude for Canadian line workers helping with hurricane outages

Gruelling days and gratitude for Canadian line workers helping with hurricane outages
They are some of the hundreds — possibly thousands — of Canadian line workers who have been called into service to help rebuild power grids after Helene and now Hurricane Milton have left millions of Americans in the dark.

Gruelling days and gratitude for Canadian line workers helping with hurricane outages

B.C. Muslim Association wants Conservative candidate removed for 'time bomb' post

B.C. Muslim Association wants Conservative candidate removed for 'time bomb' post
In a letter to the party and Surrey South candidate Brent Chapman, the association says a statement like the one he posted on Facebook nine years ago "promotes division and hate" and it's imperative he be asked to step down.

B.C. Muslim Association wants Conservative candidate removed for 'time bomb' post

No jail time after fatal 2020 stabbing at Vancouver's former Biltmore Hotel

No jail time after fatal 2020 stabbing at Vancouver's former Biltmore Hotel
The sentencing decision by B.C. provincial court Judge Reginald Harris says 31-year-old Anthony Woods must instead continue to live at a recovery home in the Interior for the first year of his two-year conditional sentence. 

No jail time after fatal 2020 stabbing at Vancouver's former Biltmore Hotel

B.C. billionaire posts third large sign criticizing NDP ahead of the election

B.C. billionaire posts third large sign criticizing NDP ahead of the election
British Columbia billionaire Chip Wilson has put up yet another billboard message to voters, his third post outside his multimillion-dollar mansion in NDP Leader David Eby's own riding.  The latest sign outside the Lululemon co-founder's home says that if Eby and his party can't balance B.C.'s budget then “what right does he have to tell us how to live our lives?”

B.C. billionaire posts third large sign criticizing NDP ahead of the election