OTTAWA - Ottawa issued almost $5 million in fines to companies for not complying with the rules that accompanied the temporary foreign worker permits they received, new government data shows.

The Employment and Social Development Canada report also said that after new rules kicked in last year making it harder to get a temporary foreign worker permit, the number of applications made under the program was cut in half.

The drop included a 70 per cent drop in low wage stream temporary worker applications, says the federal government.

The temporary foreign worker program is split into low- and high-wage streams, reserved for jobs either below or above the provincial median income.

Employment and Social Development Canada said it collected about $4.9 million in fines for non-compliance in t

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