Mark Carney has rejected calls to eliminate the Temporary Foreign Workers Program (TFWP) amid rising youth unemployment in Canada. Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre urged the federal government to scrap the program, stating, "It’s time for Canadian jobs for Canadian workers."

B.C. Premier David Eby, a member of the NDP, has joined the opposition's stance, suggesting that the TFWP should either be canceled or significantly reformed. Eby pointed out that the province's fiscal challenges are linked to high youth unemployment rates, which he attributes to the TFWP and the international student program.

Despite the criticism, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau maintains that the TFWP plays a vital role in the Canadian labor market but acknowledges that it requires adjustments. Carney noted, "When I talk to businesses around the country, their No. 1 issue is tariffs, and their No. 2 issue is access to temporary foreign workers."

The TFWP allows Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals for temporary positions when no qualified Canadians or permanent residents are available. The program includes six streams: high-wage workers, global talent stream, in-home caregivers, foreign academics, low-wage workers, and seasonal agriculture workers. The latter two categories account for the majority of TFWP permits issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC).

The program has undergone significant changes since its inception. Initially, it remained largely unchanged for nearly 30 years until it was expanded under Stephen Harper's Conservative government in 2002. This expansion included a low-skilled pilot project that allowed employers to hire workers for lower-skilled occupations. However, following reports of employer abuse and rising unemployment, the program was overhauled in 2013. This overhaul introduced the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA), requiring employers to demonstrate a need for foreign workers and their ability to pay them.

Before becoming Prime Minister, Trudeau criticized the TFWP, stating in 2014, "Temporary foreign workers program lowers Canadian wages and exploits vulnerable people. It needs to be fixed." However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trudeau government relaxed rules to address labor shortages, increasing caps on low-wage hires and extending the maximum employment length.

Last summer, Ottawa reversed some of these changes, announcing it would stop processing LMIAs in the low-wage stream for major cities with unemployment rates exceeding six percent, with exceptions for certain sectors. Additionally, wage thresholds for LMIAs were raised in June.

Statistics Canada reports that the number of temporary foreign workers in Canada has surged in recent years, more than doubling from 356,000 in 2011 to 845,000 in 2021. The agency also notes that the proportion of temporary foreign workers arriving under the TFWP has decreased, falling from 35 percent in 2011 to 15 percent in 2021.