Last year over 190,000 so-called temporary foreign workers were admitted into Canada. Most of these are brought in because of lobbying by employer groups who claim that there are no qualified candidates for these jobs in Canada.
Given that there are approximately 1,500,000 Canadians unemployed, a reasonable observer might ask what the government is doing to help Canadians aquire the skills they need to qualify for these jobs.
Today the Harper gang made it clear what it intends to do for unemployed Canadians.
Nothing!
But they do have some great news for the employers.
Henceforth the government will make it easier to import foreign workers, cutting the 12 to 14 week approval process down to 10 days.
Furthermore, while employers were in the past obliged to pay their imports the prevailing wage in an industry, the new rules will permit foreign workers to be paid 15% less than the average wage in any particular sector. Given the many possible ways of fudging averages this gives employers a green light to drive down wages simply by claiming a shortage of skilled workers and then importing people who will work for less.
Which makes this a good news/ bad news story.
Bad news for Canadian workers.
Good news for the companies who have washed their hands of their responsibility to train and hire them.
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