GATINEAU, QC - The agriculture and agri-food industry is a significant contributor to Canada's economic growth and vitality. The Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program is an important tool to support the sector in filling vacant and seasonal positions when qualified Canadians and permanent residents are not available.
Collaboration between the Government of Canada and agriculture employers contributes to the overall success of the TFW Program in addressing the sector's labour needs and ensuring that workers are protected while they are here. That is why the Government of Canada will engage with employers, workers and other stakeholders on ways to modernize the TFW Program's Primary Agriculture Stream to address key issues raised during the Primary Agriculture Review, including:
- simplifying the Primary Agriculture Stream and making it easier for users of the Program to understand their obligations under the Program;
- examining how to set wages for agriculture workers to allow for increased transparency and more flexibility for employers to offer raises and bonuses to workers; and
- working with provinces and territories to improve housing for foreign workers to ensure consistency across the country.
Making these changes to modernize how the TFW Program works for agricultural employers and workers will help to ensure that the labour needs of Canada's evolving agriculture sector are met, while supporting the domestic labour market and protecting foreign workers.
Source : Cision