Canada’s foreign recruitment policy is poised for another overhaul. Prime Minister Mark Carney announced this week that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), the old standby for dealing with shortfalls of available labor, will be restructured and rewritten for the purpose of more precisely matching regional and sectoral labor demands.
Also Read Temporary Foreign Worker Program changes in Canada
Prime Minister Hints at Change
In a speech to Liberal MPs from Edmonton on September 10, Carney indicated the government hopes to reform the TFWP such that it is “more targeted and responsive.” Though he avoided calling for specific steps, the Prime Minister indicated that forthcoming rules will favor industries and provinces having the hardest time filling skilled jobs.
Why the Program Matters
The TFWP has been on the books for decades as a way for Canadian businesses to fill jobs when they could not find a suitable candidate within the country. Companies first need to get a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), an examination by federal bureaucrats that considers whether an overseas national would be detrimental to the Canadian employment market. These applications can only be pursued after the LMIA turns out positively.
The program is especially essential for the fields of agriculture, caregiving, hospitality, and the trades, where there are serious labor shortfalls. But it is also contentious within the political and economic debate of Canada.
Rising Criticism from Opposition
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre has consistently contended that the TFWP depresses wages and decreases opportunities for Canadians. Even his caucus members have suggested eliminating the program and calling on Ottawa to trust home workers and training programs instead. But employers respond that many jobs are going unused even after hiring for them back home. Business lobbies caution that the abolition or significant curtailment of the program would deny farms, hospitals, and building sites the labor they require to operate.
Government’s Latest Restriction
The remarks by Carney follow a string of previous restrictions implemented over the past year and a half. They are:
- An admissions quota of 82,000 new TFWP admissions by 2025.
- Low-wage LMIA processing prohibition within the communities whose unemployment exceeds the level of 6%.
- Increased wage thresholds for high-skilled streams, currently at 20% over the median wage of the locality.
- Fewer restrictions on the proportion of a company’s labor force that can be foreign temporaries.
- Narrower spousal open work permit admitability, only for designated high-skill occupations.
Impact on Work Permits
Statistical reports indicate that it decreased dramatically during the first six months of 2025, when the number of work permits released under the program was only 33,722, representing a net decrease of nearly 50% from the same period the previous year.
That decline is an indication of the government’s efforts to reduce seasonal labor and ensure the employment of Canadians where feasible.
What to Expect Next
There is a belief among policy analysts that the next phase of reform could bring even higher standards of applications for use by businesses, or a greater emphasis on top sectors like healthcare and technology. Business lobbies will press hard for their industries to be considered qualified.
For now, the specifics are under wraps, but the Carney announcement previewed the reality that the future of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will be very different from the past.
