A Tim Hortons in Toronto on May 21. The chain currently employs approximately 4,000 temporary foreign workers, making up 3.6 per cent of all restaurant roles.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Tim Hortons deserves no applause for its recent announcement that it will hire local workers for its expansion plan, rather than bring them in through the temporary foreign worker program. In fact, the restaurant chain’s unnecessary reliance on foreign workers is a case study on why the program should be scrapped.
For years, Tim Hortons was one of the biggest proponents of the program. While it’s been reducing its use of temporary foreign workers, the chain still employs approximately 4,000 of them, making up 3.6 per cent of all restaurant roles.
Of course, it’s been more difficult for employers to hire foreign nationals in the last couple of years, as new rules lower the percentage of foreign workers businesses can hire and prevent hires in cities with high unemployment. Up until last year, Tim Hortons had been lobbying to loosen the rules again, but now it says that due to high youth unemployment nationally, lobbying is no longer needed.
The company’s move is a de facto acknowledgement that the program is harming job prospects for young Canadians. The summer job market has been weak over the past few years, and the youth unemployment rate, currently at 14.3 per cent, has been high year-round.
Tim Hortons to dial back use of Temporary Foreign Worker program, aims to hire 10,000 locally
Earlier this week, Bank of Canada external deputy governor Nicolas Vincent said that large numbers of temporary foreign workers and international students who arrived between 2022 and 2024 intensified competition for lower-skill and entry-level jobs, making it harder for young people to find work. Foreign labour also puts downward pressure on wage growth. The blame here doesn’t fall on the foreign workers themselves, but on Ottawa and the employers that lobbied to expand the program.
Youth unemployment harms individuals over their lifetimes, reducing their long-term earning potential, and leading to negative mental and physical health outcomes, according to a report from the charity King’s Trust Canada. Meanwhile, the foreign workers themselves are frequently subject to abuse, as the program usually ties their ability to stay in the country with their employer.
Tim Hortons has said it ramped up use of the program to deal with staffing challenges due to COVID. While the early days of the pandemic were certainly disruptive, changing Canada’s immigration system to fill short-term labour gaps is bad policy.
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The 1.6 million work permit holders currently in the country are too numerous to easily be absorbed into our permanent immigration system, and many are desperately looking at a shrinking number of pathways to stay. Many are low wage workers, who bring less economic benefits to the country, yet they now have an edge on getting permanent residency due to their Canadian experience.
Instead of catering to employers’ short-term needs, Canada’s immigration system should offer a clear path to permanent residency that doesn’t rely on first becoming a temporary worker. The immigration ministry should select the best qualified immigrants, and not rely on the picks of local restaurant managers.
Tim Hortons says it will still need temporary foreign workers in rural and remote areas, but even this practice is unnecessary. The chain, its parent company Restaurant Brands, and its franchisees could surely crunch numbers and factor in higher pay to attract workers in rural and remote locations. If they can’t make the numbers work, they should adjust operations.
Ottawa to allow more hiring of low-wage temporary foreign workers in rural areas
Ottawa shouldn’t have buckled to pressure from business groups to ease the rules in rural areas. Since April, rural employers in participating provinces have been allowed to temporarily boost the amount of low-wage temporary foreign workers to 15 per cent of their staff, instead of 10 per cent.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told The Globe and Mail editorial board earlier this month that the temporary foreign worker program should be wound down except for on farms. He’s right in calling out corporate Canada for falsely claiming that they can’t find local workers. “The solution for a labour shortage is higher wages, not bringing in lower wage people from poorer countries,” he said. Interestingly, the NDP, on the other side of the political spectrum, agrees.
The Liberals under Mark Carney have reined in many of the immigration excesses of the Trudeau era, but there’s still a long way to go. A sound policy announcement this summer, as young people struggle to find work, would be to scrap the temporary foreign worker program.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that Tim Hortons determined that lobbying to loosen temporary foreign worker rules is no longer needed due to high youth unemployment nationally.