Doctors and other specialized fields feel pinch under new Temporary Foreign Worker Program

The massive overhaul of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program was resulted in a bevy of concerns being tabled, from regions of the country demanding access to an extended well of potential employees as well as from industries that have come to rely on access to highly-trained foreign workers.

Not only have western provinces recently spoken out about their need for temporary foreign workers, now industries are complaining about being left in the lurch by the changes introduced last month by Labour Minister Jason Kenney.

Perhaps the most notable shortage is doctors.

The Globe and Mail reports that while the health industry has long relied on foreign doctors to fill vacancies, often in rural areas, recent changes will hurt those recruitment efforts.

Joan Mavrinac, the head of an Ontario physician recruitment office, told the Globe the latest changes don't make sense for the industry.

“We are drifting further and further away from anything that makes sense for physicians,” Mavrinac told the newspaper. “These people aren’t pouring coffee and flipping burgers, but basically, they are all caught up in the same thing.”

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was introduced to help Canadian businesses and industries fill job vacancies when qualified Canadians could not be found.

But after a series of instances in which companies took advantage of the program, commonly to fill low-wage service industries, the program was revamped.

In June, Kenney and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander introduced changes that made it tougher and more expensive to apply, and also provided greater oversight and additional punishment options for companies that used and abused the program.

Notably, the changes implemented regional caps on the number of temporary foreign workers employed in an industry. As the Globe notes, there are other issues specific to medical practitioners.

For example, doctors operate as independent contractors, a grey area under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. For another, they will often split their time between hospitals or other locations. A labour market impact assessment (LMIA) must be ordered and conducted for each location, at a cost of $1,000 each.

But doctors aren't the only field that says the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is hindering business.

CBC News reports that Canada's film and television industry is concerned about the impact it has on American productions filming north of the border. Under the new rules, each American actor and crew member coming to Canada would be charged the $1,000 LMIA fee and face a 15-day waiting period for a work permit.

The Canadian Media Production Association and the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. confirmed that they were to participate in a meeting with Immigration Minister Chris Alexander on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

A Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. spokesperson told Yahoo Canada News that one of the major issues was the 15-day waiting period. The fear is that this would delay productions and add enough addition expense that it could scare off big productions.

In late June, the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of B.C. celebrated a boon in regionally-filmed Hollywood productions, including television shows such as Supernatural and Arrow, as well as big-budget movies including Godzilla, X-Men: Days of Future Past and Iron Man 3.

A economic benefit report compiles by the Motion Picture Association of Canada last July noted that the television and film industry supported more than 262,000 full-time equivalent jobs across the country, generated $12.8 billion in labour income and returned $5.5 billion in tax revenue to federal, provincial and local governments.

Sun News Network has also previously reported that restaurants with highly specialized positions, like sushi chefs, will have a hard time finding qualified Canadian applicants.

These restaurants are lumped in with others in the foodservice industry, which has been perhaps the industry most targeted by the recent program changes. Restaurants Canada opposes those changes, claiming it will make it essentially impossible to fill vacancies in some areas of the country, specifically in Alberta where growth has left low-wage positions unfilled.

"In areas of the country where restaurant owners cannot find enough Canadian workers, there will be business casualties that will put Canadians out of a job. The significantly higher costs for restaurateurs will also force them to raise menu prices for customers. It's currently a no-win situation," Restaurants Canada president Garth Whyte said recently.

Much of the opposition to the new Temporary Foreign Worker Program actually comes from Alberta, where officials are calling for the province to have more control and authority over how the program is implemented.

The good news is that it seems Kenney may be willing to play ball. Last weekend, the Canadian Press quoted Kenney saying he is willing to consider “local exemptions.” And the government has made industry-specific exemptions in the past, cutting various red tape for musicians and bands that have come to Canada to tour from other countries.

There are plenty of industry leaders that would like to be handed the same responsibility.

So many questions swirl around so many positions. Whether it is doctors being delayed and dissuaded from filling vacancies, television productions scared off by red tape and extra expense or even sushi restaurants handing the knives to lesser trained kitchen staff, there are concerns.

The reality is that there are as many questions now as there were before the Temporary Foreign Worker Program was revamped.

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