Nearly half of immigrants say temporary foreign workers fill the jobs Canadians don’t want

Jasper, Alberta — a tourism hub in the Rockies — has long depended on foreign labour to keep its restaurants, hotels, and attractions running, especially during peak summer months when as many as 3,000 seasonal employees are needed.

For Diana Donat, that workforce is essential. Donat’s home was destroyed in the wildfire that tore through Jasper in July 2024, but her restaurant across the street survived. Watching crews rebuild her neighbourhood, she wonders how many of the workers are in Canada on temporary visas.

“I think some of them are,” she says. “Temporary foreign workers — they work hard, they’re committed. They really help businesses in Jasper.”

Others in the community share the sentiment. Cook Joseph Francisco says visitors returned to Jasper quickly after last year’s wildfire, keeping restaurants packed. But the job comes with sacrifices.

“I moved to Canada hoping to bring my family,” he says, noting he hasn’t hugged his daughter in nearly four years. “It’s getting tougher now.”

Those struggles come as the federal government moves to significantly reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada, promising further adjustments to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Employers must already obtain a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) before hiring from abroad, and recent changes include regional hiring caps and limits on the percentage of foreign workers companies can employ.

With unemployment still elevated — especially among younger Canadians — the TFWP remains contentious. Immigrants themselves are divided.

Poll reveals split opinions among newcomers

A new Leger survey conducted for OMNI News shows 36% of immigrants believe temporary foreign workers take jobs away from Canadian youth. Meanwhile, 47% say they fill essential roles Canadians generally do not want.

Catherine Connelly, a professor and business research chair at McMaster University, says many assumptions about the program are out of date. A wave of federal changes has already tightened access to low-wage foreign labour, she notes.

According to the poll, most newcomers think temporary foreign workers should only be allowed in specific sectors or low-unemployment regions. But Connelly argues that trying to constantly fine-tune the program is unrealistic.

“Labour markets shift much faster than government policy ever can,” she says. “It’s unlikely the system could keep pace.”

Changes already affecting workers’ plans

Irene Bloemraad, Co-Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia, says another misconception is that all temporary workers fall under the TFWP. Many, she notes, come through entirely different pathways.

“If the TFWP ended tomorrow, there would still be hundreds of thousands of temporary workers in Canada,” she says.

One of them is Marco Calabretta, a technician in Montreal who came through the International Experience Canada program in 2023. After two years, he considers his coworkers a second family — but shifting federal and provincial rules have cast doubt on whether he’ll be able to stay.

“Everyone hopes I stay,” he says. “They’re trying everything to help me.”

Should the TFWP stay, change, or end? Newcomers are split

The OMNI-Leger poll finds immigrants evenly divided: some want the TFWP preserved as is, while others would prefer to see it dismantled.

Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has urged Ottawa to abolish the program entirely and replace it with a specialized system for hard-to-fill agricultural jobs.

But Bloemraad argues that reducing temporary pathways should come with a return to a more stable, long-term immigration model — one that treats migration as a shared investment, not a short-term labour fix.

“It’s not fair to bring people here for our economic growth and treat them like machines,” she says. “If they’re good enough to work for us, they might be good enough to stay.”

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