Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre demanded Wednesday that Canada’s government immediately scrap its Temporary Foreign Worker program, arguing it has created an employment crisis among young Canadians by flooding the job market with cheap foreign labor.
Speaking at a news conference in Mississauga, Poilievre said the program has displaced Canadian youth from entry-level positions while exploiting foreign workers. “The Liberals have to answer, ‘Why is it that they are shutting our own youth out of jobs and replacing them with low-wage, temporary foreign workers from poor countries who are ultimately being exploited,'” he said.
Under Poilievre’s plan, the existing program would be eliminated entirely, with Conservatives proposing a new, dedicated system specifically for seasonal farm work.
Prime Minister Mark Carney responded hours later that the program “has a role” in Canada’s economy, saying his government is reviewing immigration policies while working to reduce temporary residents from 7% to 5% of the population by 2026.
The Temporary Foreign Worker program has faced increasing scrutiny as youth unemployment reached 14.6% in July — the highest level since 2010 outside the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 400,000 Canadians have been searching for work for over two years, the highest share since 1998.
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Canada issued 105,000 temporary foreign worker permits in the first half of 2025, already exceeding the government’s promised annual cap of 82,000. However, overall arrivals dropped by 125,903 compared to the same period in 2024, according to government data.
The federal government has implemented significant restrictions since 2024, including halting processing of low-wage applications in metropolitan areas with unemployment above 6%, reducing permit validity from 12 months to six months, cutting maximum employment duration for low-wage workers from two years to one year, and limiting low-wage temporary workers to 10% of most workforces.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business condemned Poilievre’s proposal, calling it “ridiculous” and arguing the program addresses genuine labor shortages in rural areas where unemployed workers from major cities are unlikely to relocate.
“When I talk to businesses around the country, particularly in Quebec but elsewhere in the country, their No. 1 issue is tariffs, and their No. 2 issue is access to temporary foreign workers,” Carney said at his party’s cabinet retreat in Toronto.
The program allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers temporarily when qualified Canadians aren’t available, requiring Labour Market Impact Assessments to demonstrate need. Critics argue some employers use it to suppress wages and avoid hiring locals.
Immigration policy has become a central political battleground as Canada grapples with housing shortages, strained public services, and concerns about wage suppression in an economy where temporary foreign workers now represent nearly 2% of the private sector workforce.
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