Former Alberta employment and immigration minister Thomas Lukaszuk has written federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussein urging him to open a formal investigation into serious allegations a temporary foreign worker was improperly treated by a business person who is now a United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary. Mr. Lukaszuk, who was
Continue readingTag: Temporary Foreign Worker Program
Politics and its Discontents: We Must Be Luddites
That can be the only possible explanation for the fact that the federal government is breaking its promise to end abuses of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program so that Canadians can have the first opportunity at applying for available jobs. As reported by the CBC, The federal government has granted
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Robots, migration and the future of work (Briarpatch Magazine)
I have a longer read in the newest issue of Briarpatch Magazine, which is dedicated to the world of work. If you don’t know Briarpatch, be sure to check out the other articles in this issue and consider subscribing; this is one of Canada’s oldest independent left publications and definitely
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: And Speaking Of Labour
All kinds of abuses continue under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. As reported by the CBC, an Italian company, Saipem, contracted by Husky Sunrise to build a multi-billion dollar plant 60 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, is employing 344 foreign tradespersons and others who are either unqualified, uncertified or cannot
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A few harmless slaps were landed, but last night’s PC leadership debate in Edmonton was no donnybrook
The Three Tory Amigos just before last night’s Edmonton debate. Below: Mr. Lukaszuk, who your blogger says was the debate winner, frontrunner Jim Prentice, and the challenger with the best chance, Ric McIver. If last night’s Alberta Progressive Conservative Leadership debate in a North Edmonton Ukrainian community hall shows anything,
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper Government Sanctioned Misuse of TFW Program
The Alberta Federation of Labour says the Harper government gave companies the green light to underpay thousands of temporary foreign workers under the TFW program. The post Harper Government Sanctioned Misuse of TFW Program appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: TFWP: How Racist is Canada?
Here’s one way to tell how racist a person/nation is. Have them read this excerpt and see if they fly into a rage about “those” people, or just come up with economic arguments to keep “them” out. Hopefully, everyone you know will nod and say, “obviously!” Since this is a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Canada’s anti-union lobby is at the heart of the deceptive campaign for more Temporary Foreign Workers – why’s that, d’ya think?
Canadians need not apply? Actual Canadian store displays may not appear exactly as illustrated. But the intent of the AstroTurf TFW lobby is to bust unions and weaken the bargaining power of Canadian workers. Below: Employment Minister and former Canadian Taxpayers Federation operative Jason Kenney; former Canadian Federation of Independent
Continue readingAlberta Diary: ‘Targeted exemptions’ for TFWs – Tory fund-raising tool, a backyard maquiladora in every neighbourhood, or both?
Typical Canadian fast-food help, as seen by Canadian fast-food employers, sort of. Below: Employment Minister Jason Kenney in Stampede-Week-appropriate garb and the CFIB’s Richard Truscott. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Unemployment has climbed to 7.1 per cent in Canada and yet a key segment of the Harper Government’s donor base is screeching
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The horror! The horror! Brent Rathgeber and the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce on the nightmare of too few TFWs
St. Albert by night. My lord! What would we do if the local McDonald’s wasn’t open at 3 a.m.! Below: Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. St. ALBERT, Alberta I have a challenge for Edmonton-St. Albert Member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, the St. Albert Chamber of Commerce and all the other
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Harper’s War On The Middle Class
Continues apace. A shortage of skilled workers is the biggest challenge many Canadian businesses face today, Employment Minister Jason Kenney told a skills summit Wednesday, warning it could also jeopardize Canada’s economic development in the future. The problem would continue to grow as the population ages, Kenney told the one-day
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Progressive Conservative leadership candidates take aim at federal bogeyman, demand Alberta’s own immigration policy
Alberta’s three Progressive Conservative leadership candidates contemplate Ottawa mucking about with the beloved Temporary Foreign Worker Program. From left to right: Ric McIver, Jim Prentice and Thomas Lukaszuk. Actual would-be Alberta premiers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: the real Messrs. McIver, Prentice and Lukaszuk. Never mind Alberta’s Lake
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Too Little, Too Late
So, Jason Kenney has applied some bandages to the hemorrhaging Temporary Foreign Workers program. The changes prevent employers in places with high unemployment rates from applying for temporary foreign workers in the lowest wage and skill groups in the accommodation, food service and retail sectors. A cap is also
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Three reasons why Ottawa’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program ‘reforms’ likely mean little
There’s always been a worldwide pool of skilled and unskilled employees like these fellows for jobs in North America – immigration. Below: Employment Minister Jason Kenney and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. Canadians are within their rights to be highly skeptical of the long list of changes to the Harper Government’s
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: I Have A Simpler Solution
The headline reads, Restaurant owners seek meeting with PM over foreign worker freeze The group representing Canada’s restaurant owners is calling for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss the freeze on temporary foreign workers in the restaurant industry. “The recent moratorium on temporary foreign workers in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Brent Rathgeber may not a be a Tory any more, but he still supports the Harper Government’s worst ideas
Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber getting scrummed by the media in his St. Albert office the day after he resigned from the Conservative Parliamentary Caucus. (Photo grabbed from Mr. Rathgeber’s website.) Below: Mr. Rathgeber looking at the camera. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Notwithstanding his much-publicized break with the Harper Conservatives, Independent
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Where’s the beef? Ottawa and the fast-food lobby are serving nothing but baloney about the need for Temporary Foreign Workers
Whatever it says on the menu, fast food restaurant owners, other employers of temporary foreign workers and their pals in the Harper Government are serving baloney. Below: Dominique M. Gross of Simon Fraser University; Charles Decatur “C.D.” Howe. Advocates of the Harper Government’s so-called Temporary Foreign Workers Program are using
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Explaining the screams for easy-to-exploit Temporary Foreign Workers: Canadians are just too uppity for many low-wage employers
Chinese workers building Canadian railways – another sordid story of “temporary foreign workers.” Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark rose in that province’s Legislative Building in Victoria yesterday and apologized for a stream of racist laws and policies
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Canadian Airlines Hired Temporary Foreign Worker Pilots
by: Obert Madondo | May 11, 2014 Obert Madondo, Editor, The Canadian Progressive Canadian airlines exploited the Harper Conservatives’ Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to “systematically” exclude Canadian pilots and hire foreign ones, a new memo reveals. No only that. Employment Minister Jason Kenney’s department blessed the hiring even though the applicants
Continue readingParliamANT Hill: PM warns employers who prefer foreigAnt workers over CanadiAnts
Inspired by this headline: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/stephen-harper-warns-employers-who-prefer-foreign-workers-over-canadians-1.2625964
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