April 28, 2022

To address current and future labour market and skills shortages, the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, announced the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program Workforce Solutions Road Map.

This initiative aims to improve worker protections and build a stronger and better labour force, including new avenues to permanent residency, with the implementation of five key policy changes.

Program Highlights

  • Making the Seasonal Cap Exemption permanent for seasonal industries – permanently increased to 270 days from the previous 180 days.
  • Validity for Labour Market Impact Assessments increased to 18 months from previous nine-month maximum.
  • Employment duration for High-Wage stream and Global Talent Stream workers – extended to a maximum of three years to reduce the administrative burden and help with workforce planning.
  • Cap for low-wage employers in seven sectors with demonstrated labour shortages in low-wage positions, like food manufacturing increased to 30%.
  • Ending the TFW Program policy to refuse to process LIMA applications for certain low-wage occupations in Accommodation and Food Services, and Retail Trade sectors in economic regions with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher.
  • TFW Program Ministerial Consultative Roundtable representing stakeholders, employers, labour organizations, migrant support worker organizations and chaired by Minister Qualtrough and will meet twice annually for next three years.

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