Canada plans changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, i.e., Prime Minister Mark Carney has declared that the government is working on changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). 

In an address to the Liberal caucus in Edmonton on September 10, Carney stated that moving forward, the TFWP will have a focused approach that targets specific, strategic sectors, as well as needs in specific regions. He further stated that the government was actively working towards these objectives. 

Carney did not provide any details on the nature of potential changes. 

The TFWP is Canada’s flagship program for issuing work permits to foreign nationals. The program requires that an employer undergo a Labor Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) before the worker can apply for a work permit. 

The LMIA, undertaken by the Employment and Social Development Canada, must indicate that the hiring of the foreign worker will have a neutral/ positive impact on the Canadian labor market, i.e., the availability of jobs for Canadian citizens and permanent residents will remain unchanged, or actually increase, as a result of the hiring of a foreign worker for that position. 

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has recently taken aim at the TFWP, claiming that the program has led to fewer job opportunities for Canadians, and the Conservative Party of Canada has called for the abolition of the program.  

Over the past year and a half, the government has made a number of changes to scale back on the TFWP, including: 

  • Setting a target of 82,000 net new admissions of TFWP workers for the year 2025.
  • Establishing a moratorium on the processing of low-wage LMIAs in regions with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher. 
  • Lowering the caps for the percentage of an employer’s workforce that can be employed through the TFWP.
  • Raising the wage threshold for the high-wage stream of the TFWP to 20% above the median regional wage.
  • Limiting the availability of spousal open work permits (SOWPs) to spouses of TFWP holders working in TEER 0 or 1 occupations, or in select in-demand TEER 2 or 3 professions, and requiring that the TFWP holder have at least 16 months remaining on their work permit. 

According to government data, overall issuances of work permits from January to June in 2025 have fallen by 50% relative to last year, while over the same period, only 33,722 net new TFWP work permits were issued. 

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