By CBC News | Link to Article
A mass exodus of temporary foreign workers is on the horizon, employers and lawyers predict.
Beginning April 1, low-skill, temporary foreign workers who have been in Canada at least four years will be forced to leave.
By CBC News | Link to Article
A mass exodus of temporary foreign workers is on the horizon, employers and lawyers predict.
Beginning April 1, low-skill, temporary foreign workers who have been in Canada at least four years will be forced to leave.
Most of those workers are employed in the agricultural and fishing industries.
Bill Stevens, the CEO of Mushroom Canada, is pushing for a reprieve.
“Frankly, it’s crisis with us because we’re losing workers who don’t want to leave, who have proven themselves to be valuable, and deserve an opportunity to apply for citizenship,” Stevens said.
Stevens says the $900-million mushroom industry relies on temporary foreign workers to do jobs it can’t fill with Canadian citizens.
He says Highline Mushrooms in Kingsville, Ont., and Rol-Land Farms near Blenheim are both facing major decreases in production, if the deadline is upheld.
“The whole thing amounts to a major decrease in the production of our commodity, and they’re going to suffer from it, they’re going to lose markets, and especially now when the markets are really very strong,” Stevens said.
Stevens is pushing for a moratorium on the April deadline and for new avenues for low skill temporary foreign workers to achieve permanent residency.
Immigration lawyer Maria Fernandes in Windsor, Ont., is pushing for similar changes.