300 Canadians laid off, replaced by temp. foreign workers

[matai]

I think that also explains why Kelowna IE rate is only 6%. Temporary workers ALL come from elsewhere and leave the province when work is over.

It's totally misleading.

[omisimaw]

And were you aware they can access their benefits from elsewhere in the world? Not so much EI but if they have a WCB claim they can return home and have a pension for life! Ah the benefits of the democratic free world alive and well in the 3rd world... all from doing a stint as a foreign worker.... and do not for one minute think that they do not group up to save every penny they can to send back home! There are more negatives than positives .... the worst of which is it is used as a springboard to residency which would not otherwise be available to the individual

[matai]

And Quebecers claiming IE with their Quebec address even though their IE is from work in BC. It makes the rate up there go high while it keeps ours low. It makes erroneous stats.

It would not make any difference if there was only a handful of workers coming from there to work here, but I would say 99% of them pickers are Quebecers, thousands of them.

Maybe the IE could calculate their rate differently. If 50+1% of the work was done outside of the area of the worker residency, the rate should be given to the area in which the work was performed.

It would also affect how much they can collect because the higher the rate, the more money they get and the longer they get it. So maybe they would work more and be on IE less.

[omisimaw]

And Quebecers claiming IE with their Quebec address even though their IE is from work in BC. It makes the rate up there go high while it keeps ours low. It makes erroneous stats.

It would not make any difference if there was only a handful of workers coming from there to work here, but I would say 99% of them pickers are Quebecers, thousands of them.

Maybe the IE could calculate their differently. If 50+1% of the work was done outside of the province of the worker, the rate should be given to the area in which the work was performed.

why do you keep referring to Quebec? Are you not aware they are Canadian and do not need a temporary work authorization to work anywhere within Canada exactly as you or I can?

This is not a thread on EI.... but have at it and start a thread cause for sure that is another federal program that is severally broken and getting worse!

[hobbyguy]

As I have pointed out elsewhere, the "reforms" to the TFW program have been slow coming. Kenney and Harper, and probably Alexander, have known of the problems for many years, but chose to do - nothing.

The 300 number in the OP is just a tiny symptom of what has been going on, even Jason Kenney has been forced to admit that the program has been used for purposes of wage suppression. If you look at the growth of the program, from a very long standing roughly 100,000, then the number of Canadians NOT being offered employment is something on the order of 250,000.

Where the labor market is allowed to be true "free market", such as in North Dakota (which is booming just as much or more than Alberta), what has happened is that wages have spiked. $25 USD/hr to wait on tables at the local coffee shop, about $15 USD/hr to "flip burgers". And so on. Folks are moving from nice climates like North Carolina to take these jobs - because it is worth their while to do so. Oh, and there are few complaints in North Dakota about labor shortages.

So Harper (who we know operates as "the big boss" micro manager), Kenney, and now Alexander have destroyed the "free market" for "us" (working folks). They will talk about "free market" principles - and then have shown that the "free market" is not for "us".

The slow response to the controversy, and they have had letters of complaint from even Conservative MPs for many years, is telling. They, Harper and crew, were willing to take a huge political risk to keep expanding this program.

The slow response is telling in another way. Harper and crew want to keep this gutting of the free market for labor going. They needed time to come up with other "loopholes" and programs to replace what they were going to have to "reform" for political reasons (and the reforms are purely political, as the length of time involved clearly demonstrates that they are ideologically OK with the abusive TFW program).

So the "youth" working exchange programs have been dramatically expanded. I can not find anyone who agrees that a 35 year old person is a "youth", but that is how Harper and crew have defined it. So we will see a few thousand "TFWs" replaced by 20,000 people coming in who are "youth exchange workers". That's Harper and Kenney's short-term "fix".

Then in 2015, the Harper/Kenney long term "fix", conveniently after the election, takes effect. The express immigration of foreign workers selected by corporations. Part of this will be an EOI system, where employers can look for workers in other countries, pre-hire them, and have them "queue jumped" to the top priority for immigration processing. Chamber of commerce groups are pressing to have that process shorted to less than 60 days, and shorter than that if possible. That system will have no lists of employment categories that qualify - it is designed to be a "wild west" for employers.

Generally I am in favor of free markets, with reasonable fairness rules. That certainly doesn't seem to be part of the agenda for those who work for a living.

[Donald G]

To Steven Lloyd ...

Your last comment is one thing on which we can agree. It is a by-product of the world economy concept. The pressure is to drive third world countries' wages up and developed countries' wages down.

[omisimaw]

Well bottom line for most is that we are sick and tired of trying to order a simple sandwich in a fast food place with persons who do not have even the basic of basic grasp of the english language!

You are aware there is not language test for TWP's and that for decades, long before Harper, it has been used to bring persons to Canada who would not even remotely meet the requirements of residency.

Once here however married off, and you can believe or not whether it is a "true love" marriage, they squeeze their way in.... huge hole in system...

As is the one where the "business" owner who bought his/her way to Canada to run a business can not find anyone in Canada to work for them because they do not know how to cook the food, they do not know how to speak the foreign language required to understand the owner or their overseas contacts, they do not know how to do whatever skill from the old country that OH BOY is the only way to get the job done.

Huge laugh and now they are getting in by buying into businesses where people are retiring all in the name of keeping the business alive, especially in smaller locations. Once in, once all the "you musts" are finished with the biz closes and the people move on more than likely to where they wanted to be in the first place.... yup another loop hole!

[omisimaw]

Ric's Grill downtown hires foreign workers and can not pay wages!

Anyone want to justify why or how there would be a shortage of workers for a restaurant in Kelowna that would require a temporary work permit?

Anyone want to try and justify why the immigration does not cancel all the work permits of a company that is in financial difficulty and not paying their Canadian employees let alone any foreign temp worker!

Un% belieivable!

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-119095-1-.htm#119095