Poilievre calls on Liberals to shut down temporary foreign worker program
OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal government to shut down the temporary foreign worker program, saying it is to blame for rising youth unemployment.
Poilievre appeared on Wednesday alongside Calgary MP Michelle Rempel Garner, his party’s immigration critic, who in recent weeks has begun naming major restaurant and retail businesses, from Canadian Tire to Booster Juice and Subway, on social media for posting jobs open to temporary foreign workers.
Jobs like these should be going to Canadian youth, Poilievre said at his announcement in Mississauga, Ont., pointing to data showing the Canadian unemployment rate among youth aged 15 to 24 had reached its highest since 2010, excluding the worst years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He summarized the situation by saying his party wants “Canadian jobs for Canadian workers.”
Statistics Canada reported youth unemployment had hit 14.6 per cent in July, which was slightly higher among young men at 16.2 per cent as compared to women of the same age at 12.8 per cent.
Among young people who identify as visible minorities, the federal statistics agency reported the unemployment rate for Arab youth was the highest at 26.4 per cent.
Nationally, it put Canada’s overall unemployment rate at 6.9 per cent, showing t he rate among youth to be particularly higher.
“The Liberals have to answer,” Poilievre said, “why is it that they’re shutting our own youth out of jobs and replacing them with low-wage temporary foreign workers from poor countries who are ultimately being exploited.”
In an emailed statement to the National Post, Tim Hortons, which Poilievre criticized in his remarks, said less than five per cent of its workforce was made up of temporary foreign workers and that they were generally hired in small towns where no local candidates were available.
“It is simply not true that temporary foreign workers are a cheaper option. Restaurant owners receive no subsidies from the government to hire temporary foreign workers. In fact, owners pay competitive wages and often cover additional costs such as travel when using the program,” the statement reads.
Dan Kelly, president and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, posted on X, while he is open to seeing changes made to the program, he said calling for its outright cancellation “is putting politics ahead of sensible policy.”
He added that restaurant owners tell him they need a “core staff” prepared to work shifts Canadians will not, which protects Canadian jobs by ensuring businesses have the staff needed to operate.
The temporary foreign worker program allows Canadian businesses to hire workers from outside of Canada to fill jobs temporarily, by first applying to Employment and Social Development Canada and showing what efforts the business has made to fill positions with a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident.
Last year, the federal Liberal government, then led by prime minister Justin Trudeau, placed limits on the extent to which employers could draw from this program to fill their labour force, particularly in the low-wage stream.
That followed concerns about abuse and fraud by some employers and coincided with rising warnings from economists and housing experts about the impact Canada’s immigration levels were having on housing prices across major cities, as well as the availability of services.
The Liberal government had relaxed some of the rules around temporary foreign workers as it sought to stave off a recession coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, as businesses expressed widespread concerns about labour shortages.
In the years since, the federal government embarked on a series of reductions, starting with temporary immigration, which included placing a cap on the number of international students allowed to study in Canada.
Those efforts culminated last November when the Liberals announced dramatic cuts to permanent immigration targets, changing the goal for 2025 to 395,000 permanent residents, down from 500,000.
Since then, Statistics Canada has reported a consistent slowing of the country’s population growth, reporting that in the first four months of this year, it hit zero per cent.
The government says it is projected to meet its new targets, including the reduced number of temporary foreign workers.
“Overall, 125,903 fewer new temporary workers arrived between January and June 2025 compared to January to June 2024,” said Isabelle Dubois, a spokesperson for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, in an emailed statement.
The Liberals have recognized concerns around rising youth unemployment, with Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu announcing a boost to the number of openings through its Canada Summer Jobs program, which provides organizations with a subsidy for hiring young people over the summer.
A spokeswoman for the minister said that temporary foreign workers represent one per cent of the country’s labour force.
“The Conservative Party is purposely choosing to target newcomers in his remarks,” spokeswoman Aissatou Diop said in a statement.
Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is spending the next two days huddling with his cabinet behind closed doors in Toronto to prepare for the fall sitting of the House of Commons, which resumes Sept. 15, told reporters Wednesday morning that the temporary foreign worker program would be part of the discussion.
He said it is important that the program be “focused” and spoke about its role within the broader context of Canada’s immigration system.
Sean Strickland, executive director of Canada’s Building Trades Union, said in a statement that they welcomed the government’s plan to take a look at the program and urged that they guarantee “that any reforms protect wages, ensure fair treatment, and prioritize hiring local workers.
“Our industry should be built on skilled, union-protected labour, not on policies that undermine job quality and worker rights.”
Carney has made addressing immigration one of the seven priorities for his government, saying in a mandate letter that the country wants to attract “the best talent in the world” to bolster its economy while also returning “our overall immigration rates to sustainable levels.”
This fall, Carney’s government is set to present its next immigration plan, which outlines targets for permanent residents. Last November’s plan was also the first time the federal government included targets for temporary immigration.
“We’ve been absolutely clear as a government that we want, and we’re putting in place policies so that the overall level of immigration and proportionate to the population, will decline from around seven per cent today to around five per cent several years from now,” he said Wednesday.
The prime minister added that the temporary foreign worker program is not the biggest of contributors to Canada’s immigration.
Carney also defended the businesses’ need for temporary labour.
“When I talk to businesses around the country, particularly in Quebec, their number one issue is tariffs and their number two issue is access to temporary foreign workers.”
Poilievre has turned more attention to immigration since the spring federal election, which delivered the Liberals their fourth consecutive victory, albeit a minority government.
Before his announcement, Conservative MP Jamil Jivani launched a petition calling for an end to the temporary foreign worker program.
Poilievre’s office said in a press release that ending the temporary foreign worker program should be followed by the creation of a new “ standalone program” dedicated to meeting the needs of the agricultural sector, which relies heavily on temporary workers to run seasonal farming operations.
His office also proposed for regions of the country with low unemployment a transition period of five years.
National Post
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