Question Period Note: Temporary Foreign Workers Program

Agricultural sector stakeholders in Quebec have raised concerns regarding Service Canada delays in Labour Market Impact Assessments (LMIA) processing

• We recognize that temporary foreign workers are vital to the Canadian agriculture sector and that employers should be able to obtain decisions on whether they can hire these workers in a timely manner.

• Service Canada is taking measures to ensure that employers receive timely Labour Market Impact Assessment decisions, including securing additional resources dedicated to processing and by prioritizing agriculture applications.

• To that end, Service Canada continues to collaborate with employer representatives to ensure that processing solutions meet their members’ needs.

• Service Canada is also committed to working with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Ministère de l’Immigration, Francisation et Intégration du Québec to enable employers to hire temporary foreign workers in this sector in a timely manner.

Temporary Foreign Worker Program:
- The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is intended to be used when employers are facing short-term skills and labour shortage, and only when no Canadians and permanent residents are available.
- The Program is jointly delivered by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and jointly managed with the Ministère de l'Immigration, de la Francisation et de l'Inclusion (MIFI) in the province of Quebec.
- ESDC processes LMIA applications that support work permit applications, which are issued to foreign workers by IRCC and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
- The TFW Program has five application streams: Primary Agricultural (including the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) and agricultural applications), Low Wage, High Wage, Express Entry (Permanent Resident) and the Global Talent Stream (GTS).
Increase of Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) Applications:
- Beginning in April 2018, the Department saw a steady increase in the volume of LMIA applications nationwide, which continues to the present.
o This year to date, the number of LMIA received in Quebec increased by approximately 40% from last year.
o So far this year, the region has processed 5,339 LMIAs. The current inventory in that region is at 4,367 pending LMIAs, which includes 103 files currently assessed, but for which a decision from the Province is required.
- This has resulted in a backlog of applications and longer processing times for program users.
- To address the current backlog, the Department reallocated additional resources to regions ($1.2 million to the Quebec Region in Q2) prior to the system issues to help manage increased demand on the program. This funding supports overtime for existing staff, and hiring of additional capacity.
LMIA System Update and Disruption to LMIA Portal:
- A mid-August information technology system update resulted in technical issues for Service Canada staff who process LMIA. In addition, the online portal used by some employers to submit applications was closed in mid-September as a result of technical, privacy and security concerns. All other channels to receive applications remained available to employers.
- System issues surfaced at a time when employer demand was steadily increasing, and also coincided with the Program’s peak fall period, resulting in a growing inventory of unprocessed applications.
Status of Quebec LMIA Applications and Path Forward:
- Since October 1, 2021, the Quebec Region has processed 243 agriculture Labour Market Impact Assessments for 590 workers.
- In addition to applications already processed, Service Canada committed to process current inventory of agricultural applications (791 LMIAs, on average 158 files per week) by December 3 and prioritizing the processing of applications through a phased approach:
o By November 12 for workers expected by December 2021.
o By November 19 for workers expected in January 2022.
o By November 26 for workers expected in February 2022.
o By December 3 for workers expected in March 2022.

• These measures have been communicated to Quebec agricultural stakeholders who raised processing concerns, and have since expressed overall satisfaction with the path forward.
  Quebec LMIA Pilot Project:
• On August 6, 2021, the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada announced that they have reached an agreement to launch a pilot project under the TFWP. The agreement will implement new flexibilities for Quebec employers:
  o an increase from 10% to 20% in the maximum number of temporary foreign workers in low-wage positions employed in certain economic sectors designated by Quebec following consultation with labour market partners;
  o eligibility to the facilitated process for certain professions under National Occupational Classification (NOC) skill type C, identified by Quebec;
  o an exemption from job advertisement and recruitment requirements for professions under NOC skill type D identified by Quebec;
  o an exemption from the policy on refusal to process LMIA applications in certain geographic regions identified by Quebec following consultation with labour market partners.
• Those flexibilities are part of a pilot project that will run until December 31, 2023.
• The Department is currently working on implementing those new measures. The implementation date of the various measures has yet to be determined.

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