DISSENTING OPINION OF THE BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS
"FACILITATING THE ENTRY OF TEMPORARY WORKERS TO CANADA"
In March and April of 1997, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration examined Canada's policy on temporary foreign workers in light of the high technology industries' shortage of qualified manpower, a shortage they are unable to make up by recruiting solely within Canada. The purpose of the study was to assess the need for a simpler administrative process for issuing temporary work permits, and to see how such a process might operate.The Committee met with spokespeople for the departments of Human Resources Development, Citizenship and Immigration, and Industry; with representatives of professional associations and of head-hunting agencies for the information technology industry; and with lawyers specializing in immigration law.
The Bloc Québécois endorses the broad outlines of the report submitted by the Liberal majority on the Committee. However, the Bloc has certain reservations on specific points, which it has voiced through its Citizenship and Immigration Critic, Osvaldo Nuñez.
In the first place, we regret that the Committee did not invite representatives of the union movement, or lawyers specializing in labour law, to appear before it. The speed, even haste, with which the Liberal majority on the Committee tackled the consideration and adoption of the Report was also regrettable. The witnesses and Committee members had little time to go into this important issue of the entry of qualified foreign high tech workers in any detail. The high rate of unemployment in Quebec and in Canada, especially among young people, including university graduates, throws the issue of the high tech sector's inability to staff its vacancies into even sharper relief. The Bloc Québécois is indignant about the time the departments of Human Resources Development and Citizenship and Immigration take to process applications for validation of temporary work permits and issuance of visas.
(A) TRAINING
The Bloc deplores the fact that Canadian companies spend so little on training their employees. They should make a point of investing in this area by setting up training programs.The majority Report does not mention that manpower training is a provincial responsibility. That is why Quebec has already introduced a policy requiring businesses to devote the equivalent of 1% of their payroll to manpower training.
The federal government could follow Quebec's example: it could offer tax incentives for investment in manpower training (as long as there was no duplication and no federal interference in areas of provincial jurisdiction).
We insist that if companies hire qualified foreign workers for high tech jobs, they make a commitment that they will create the conditions required for a transfer of knowledge, skills and expertise from their foreign workers to Canadian and Quebec workers.
Given that a significant number of young Canadians with university degrees in high tech areas are going to the United States, we urge Canadian businesses to improve their recruitment among Canadians, and to offer qualified employees the best possible salaries and working conditions, to encourage them to stay in Canada. Companies must not make systematic and abusive use of an underpaid foreign workforce, at the expense of Canadian and Quebec workers.
(B) SHORT-TERM SOLUTION
The Bloc Québécois stresses that a comprehensive solution, and one that respects federal and provincial areas of jurisdiction, must be worked out as quickly as possible, so that recourse to foreign manpower to staff vacancies in the high tech sector need be only a temporary measure.The Bloc asks that the recommendations include explicit details about the list of seven positions to be staffed and the duration of the pilot project. We also call for periodic evaluation and rigorous follow-up of the program, to be done by officials of Human Resources Development and Citizenship and Immigration. More specifically, a detailed report setting out the number and profiles of beneficiaries (provenance, training, experience), the duties performed, the wages paid and the conditions of employment should follow the project. The Bloc deplores the fact that no list of high-demand positions, plus the job descriptions to go with them, was ever submitted to the Committee during its review.
The Bloc Québécois recommends that the Committee's considerations and recommendations be taken into account when the pilot project is being designed.
Lastly, the Bloc Québécois considers that Canada's general immigration policy should reflect to a greater degree the country's labour-market needs in all economic sectors (including high technology), adopting a policy of consultation and cooperation between the federal government and the provinces and with the companies concerned.
MP for Bourassa and
Official Opposition Citizenship and Immigration Critic
Ottawa, April 22, 1997