Thursday September 4, 2025 | SURREY, BC
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Premier David Eby today weighed in on the federal Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) Program.
The TFW Program should be cancelled or considerably reformed, said Eby in a press conference in Surrey today.
Presently the federal government defines the program as allowing Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are not available.
Eby says it’s the federal government’s responsibility to protect citizens, including economic security through jobs and not overloading the infrastructure capabilities (of the provinces) to keep up.
“That program needs to be either reformed significantly or cancelled and ensure that we address the concerns of farmers and others that need temporary labour legitimately. While protecting the public of British Columbia and Canada,” said Eby at his press conference held at a Surrey high school today.
Eby points out Poilievre’s comment:
In a rare, if ever, to hear mention of the national opposition party.
But today Eby noted how the TFW program issue had being raised by the Official Opposition (i.e. Conservative Leader Pierre Poiievre) to indicate it “is a very timely issue to be considered by the federal government”.
That’s a clever leverage of federal political momentum by NDP BC Premier Eby, including picking on Poilievre’s use of the wording ‘serious conversation’ about immigration and also re-highlighting the youth unemployment problem that Poilievre articulated yesterday, calling youth today “generation screwed”.
“I’m willing to work with anyone from any party, “said Poilievre yesterday.
“Steal my ideas … these ideas are open source … we’ll work with anyone to do it,” said Poilievre on September 3.
The Conservatives say that the Liberal government is “defending corporate conglomerates who support this program that harms Canadian workers and youth,” it was stated by the Conservative Party in a news release today.
Protecting young people’s opportunities:
“When we are facing times of economic headwinds we need to ensure that our immigration program recognizes and protects the opportunities for young people in our province and across Canada,” said Eby.
“One of the reasons why we’re facing fiscal headwinds is that young people are facing a very high unemployment rate. This has been linked to both the International Student Program as well as the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” the BC Premier said today.
Eby says the problems of immigration levels that cause an overload on population-related services (e.g. housing, schools and health care) should also include a review of the levels for international student visas.
BC would convene a “serious discussion’:
“I want to offer to the federal government — to the prime minister who has taken some good steps to rein in the excesses of the immigration program from the last administration — that BC is willing to convene provinces that are interested in this issue — to have a serious grown-up conversation about immigration in Canada, the impact that it’s having on critical infrastructure, the need for it to be linked to our ability to build housing and schools,” said Premier Eby today.
“The fact that too many people — the majority of people using our food banks — have been in Canada for less than two years, that our homeless shelters have new arrivals to Canada in them instead of people who have been living on our streets for a while, the fact that young people are facing challenges getting into the employment market…” were reasons given by Eby today insisting on a review of the TFW program.
“There are strains on our provincial budget that are driven by policy decisions out of Ottawa that need a serious look. I welcome the prime minister’s initial steps on that. But I think there’s lots more to do,” said Eby.
National issue:
TFW has garnered national attention lately as Prime Minister Mark Carney leads up to releasing a fall budget while working on his ‘build Canada strong’ strategy that was a key part of the federal election in April.
Carney said in a press conference earlier this week that the second-to-most concern of businesses that he talks to is the TFW program.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business this week has pointed out the costs to employers to bring TFW workers to Canada.
However, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pointed out this week that the TFW Program as currently set up is a form of indenture and should be scrapped. He also says that TFW staff are bumping Canadian youth out of entry-level jobs.
However, the CFIB says youth are clamoring to get the jobs that foreign workers will do.
Surrey focus:
“In addition, in relation to the TFW here in Surrey, — serious concerns have been raised about fraud, about the sale of labour market assessments by individuals here in Surrey that have gone on or unaddressed and un-policed,” said Eby.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: BUSINESS & ECONOMY | CANADA-NATIONAL | 45th PARLIAMENT of CANADA | 43rd BC PARLIAMENT