>The lawsuit, filed in late May, includes nearly two dozen companies in industries from plastics to truck components to slaughterhouses concentrated in the Montéregie region of the province, just outside Montreal, along with five temporary foreign workers whose livelihoods will be or have been affected by the policy changes.
>Lawyer Frédéric Bérard alleges that their Charter rights to security of the person were violated by the sudden about-face from the federal government, because the workers are being deprived of their ability to support their families.
>”It’s a cri de cœur and we’re sounding the alarm,” he said. “You made a promise, you sent us down a path, and then overnight you snap your fingers and tell us it isn’t the right path anymore.”
>Mr. Bérard said the federal government violated the “legitimate expectations” of businesses in Quebec when, last August, it announced that companies could no longer employ more than 10 per cent of its work force through the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program. Under the changes, which took effect at the end of September, companies in high unemployment areas can no longer hire low-wage TFWs at all, except in certain high priority sectors such as construction and health care – a blow to many of his clients.
>”The government has the power to change the rules of the game, that’s fine,” said the Montreal-based constitutional lawyer. “It’s a question of how they did it. Was there warning? Was there a minimum of consultation?”
>The businesses themselves say they have been left holding the bag after investing heavily to expand on the assumption that the temporary foreign worker program would continue as it was. Although the program had been expanded in response to labour shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick Charbonneau, CEO of the Granby, Que. waste-collection equipment company Durabac, said continuing skills shortages in the region make foreign workers necessary.
!ping Can
WAGRAMWAGRAM on
this sub before the election: TFW is a scam, there’s too many foreign workers
this sub after the election: we need foreign workers, there are too many shortages
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Archived version: https://archive.ph/gcXID.
>The lawsuit, filed in late May, includes nearly two dozen companies in industries from plastics to truck components to slaughterhouses concentrated in the Montéregie region of the province, just outside Montreal, along with five temporary foreign workers whose livelihoods will be or have been affected by the policy changes.
>Lawyer Frédéric Bérard alleges that their Charter rights to security of the person were violated by the sudden about-face from the federal government, because the workers are being deprived of their ability to support their families.
>”It’s a cri de cœur and we’re sounding the alarm,” he said. “You made a promise, you sent us down a path, and then overnight you snap your fingers and tell us it isn’t the right path anymore.”
>Mr. Bérard said the federal government violated the “legitimate expectations” of businesses in Quebec when, last August, it announced that companies could no longer employ more than 10 per cent of its work force through the temporary foreign worker (TFW) program. Under the changes, which took effect at the end of September, companies in high unemployment areas can no longer hire low-wage TFWs at all, except in certain high priority sectors such as construction and health care – a blow to many of his clients.
>”The government has the power to change the rules of the game, that’s fine,” said the Montreal-based constitutional lawyer. “It’s a question of how they did it. Was there warning? Was there a minimum of consultation?”
>The businesses themselves say they have been left holding the bag after investing heavily to expand on the assumption that the temporary foreign worker program would continue as it was. Although the program had been expanded in response to labour shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Patrick Charbonneau, CEO of the Granby, Que. waste-collection equipment company Durabac, said continuing skills shortages in the region make foreign workers necessary.
!ping Can
this sub before the election: TFW is a scam, there’s too many foreign workers
this sub after the election: we need foreign workers, there are too many shortages