As Nova Scotia struggles to swim out of the demographic and economic eddy we find ourselves in, we must extend a hand to all levels of immigrants. If we do not accept that all levels of skills are require to buoy business, the province will quickly find entrepreneurs unwilling to risk their own capital on flimsy hope of maybe finding workers.
When the federal government cut back the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in a frenzied over-reaction to a handful of incidents last spring, many small businesses across our region found themselves scrambling to fill jobs. Canada's Minister of Employment and Social Development could not get his head wrapped around the notion that small businesses in areas of high unemployment could not find workers. Minister Kenney, buying into the argument put forward by labour unions, also suggests allowing TFWs has suppressed wages, especially in the hospitality sector, which we know from our small business members has not been the case.
As young people flee Nova Scotia for the promise of greater wealth in the west, Minister Kenney’s ill-advised changes to the TFWP has cut off a vital lifeline for many of the employers in our region who struggle to find the workers they need. Unless reasonable changes are made, businesses will shrink, move or die. Minister Kenney has said, let those businesses pay higher wages, let market forces set the wage structure. While it sounds like simple economics, the reality for most of the employers that have accessed TFWs is that they have offered higher wages and expanded their recruitment without success and applied to the TFWP only as a last resort.
In our latest report Taking the Temporary Out of the TFW Program - Breaking myths about the shortage of labour and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, CFIB is proposing concrete solutions to the federal government rather than engaging in the misleading and unfounded rhetoric coming from union activists. The report points to measures that will provide a path for permanent residence for workers who want to take a chance, come here, and work hard to make a new life for themselves and their families.
Geared towards entry-level workers, who are often shut out of our current permanent immigration system, CFIB’s proposed Introduction to Canada Visa would the address critical shortages for small businesses in Atlantic Canada. The proposed new visa would give foreign workers in entry-level categories an opportunity to work with an employer for two years as a defined step towards permanent residency. Other criteria would include employers being required to have one Canadian employee at same wage rate to have one Introduction Visa, a built-in ability to switch employers if commitments are not kept and strict national and provincial oversight.
It’s a proposal designed to: address shortages in the labour force, solve issues of compliance, help reverse the demographic decline we see in so many of our communities and provide a pathway for entry-level workers to become new Canadians, all of which are laudable and required goals.
In Nova Scotia, the government is currently re-tooling the provincial immigration policy. Unfortunately while the permanent immigration system often welcomes highly-skilled workers into Canada it largely prohibits anyone with more junior skill sets. Atlantic Canada needs workers at all skill levels, including entry-level jobs, and that need isn’t going away.
While misconceptions and myths have made the TFW program an easy target for its opponents, the reality for our communities and economy is that we need workers of all skill levels and as out-migration continues and our demographic landscape changes, that need will only become more pronounced. Providing a proper avenue for potential Canadians to work and live here can only help us to sustain and grow our region, not destroy it as many would have you believe.
Jordi Morgan, VP, Atlantic for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
CFIB is the voice for small and medium size businesses with 11,000 members throughout Atlantic Canada
