The restaurant business has weathered its fair share of troubles since the pandemic and labour shortages continues to be a main point of concern for the province’s hospitality industry.
“Restaurants are struggling with both input costs going up and of course the affordability crunch that the customers are feeling themselves,” said Mona Pinder, executive director of the Alberta Hospitality Association.
Which makes a new piece of legislation tabled in the Alberta legislature this week feel like another challenge for an already strained industry that relies on people from all walks of life to operate.
Bill 26, or the Immigration Oversight Act, would target employers who want to take advantage of foreign workers.
The bill would mean the creation of a public registry, and require employers and immigration consultation to be licensed.
Joseph Schow, Alberta’s immigration minister, said the bill is about protecting workers who come to the province to earn a living and to accurately address the needs of the current labour market.
“It is clear that in some instances, we have become over-reliant on temporary foreign workers,” Schow said at a news conference Wednesday.
He said the current system favours hiring foreign nationals for some jobs, bypassing young Canadians.
“As a result, some of the jobs that usually would’ve gone to Albertans as entry-level positions are now going to temporary workers.”
Schow said the legislation is about Alberta taking more control over immigration to fill jobs where needed and is “absolutely not” about restricting the number of temporary foreign workers coming to the province.
According to provincial statistics there are 271,024 non-permanent residents in Alberta. About 60 per cent of those hold work permits and six per cent hold work and study permits as of Jan. 1.
Those numbers have all decreased compared with the same time last year. The number of non-permanent residents fell by almost 26,000.
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National advocacy group Restaurants Canada said in Alberta, foodservice is a $16-billion industry that employs 155,000 people, including 63,000 youth, who represent more than 40 per cent of workers.
Pinder said restaurants in some rural areas do not have the workforce to run at full capacity, especially with youth workers.
Restaurants Canada agreed, noting youths often have limited schedule availability due to school and other commitments and are concentrated in urban areas close to higher education institutions.
“You can’t operate a kitchen without a trained chef or maintain a 24/7 rest stop if no one is willing to work overnight,” Kelly Higginson, president and CEO of Restaurants Canada, said in a statement.
Restaurants Canada said temporary foreign workers make up three per cent of the foodservice workforce but are critical, particularly for skilled roles like chefs and cooks, for overnight shifts and in rural regions where there are not enough workers.
This is why businesses look to temporary foreign workers, even though that process can be expensive, Pinder said, adding Alberta’s bill duplicates rules already in place at the federal level.
“Alberta is kind of known for looking at red tape reduction,” Pinder said.
“This doesn’t really feel like reducing red tape.”
While the process will effectively duplicate the work already being done by Ottawa, Schow said it’s necessary to prioritize and address Alberta’s unique labour market needs, particularly in agriculture and manufacturing.
Government officials said the plan is to publish the registry of employers who are approved to hire foreign workers. The bill will also establish a licensing system for immigration consultants and foreign worker recruiters to crack down on those who take advantage of vulnerable newcomers.
A new system for complaints and enforcement will be handled by Schow’s ministry. It aims to target those who charge money for job offers, misrepresent employment conditions, take illegal pay deductions or keep workers’ documents like passports.
Government officials said the regulatory framework proposed Wednesday is similar to existing legislation in Saskatchewan and British Columbia but will allow for different investigative powers.
Penalties will include fines, suspensions and bans from recruiting or hiring foreign nationals.
The legislation sets maximum fines of up to $1 million for individuals or $1.5 million for corporations. In severe cases, courts can imprison someone who violates the rules for up to a year.
Moshe Lander, an economist with Concordia University, says it is hard to gauge how the new measures would impact the economy, since the province is continuing to develop the bill’s regulations.
“If we’re going to have an economic analysis of what are the benefits and costs and what does this mean, and try and come up with a dollar amount, it’s almost impossible to do when we can’t model what we can’t see,” Lander said.
Cracking down on fraudulent activity and ensuring the protection of workers is important in maintaining the integrity of the TFW program, Restaurants Canada noted.
It and the Alberta Hospitality Association hope to see the provincial government instead scale up programs that have already seen success, like the Alberta Youth Employment Incentive.
The bill is currently tabled before the legislature. Schow said if passed, implementation could be seen as early as 2027.
With files from The Canadian Press
“You can’t operate a kitchen without a trained chef or maintain a 24/7 rest stop if no one is willing to work overnight”
If you can’t get Canadian workers to work where your business is then maybe you shouldn’t be in business?
Only a socialist ID10T hell-bent on furthering the destruction of Canada would say the red tape over immigration is a bad thing.
The immigration broken by Libs “welcome to Canada” and to a certain degree by “Alberta Advantage” must be overhauled, the sooner the better.
*Hire Canadian!* should be front and center.
Alberta is a province full of immigrants. They’re called white people. They immigrated here from Europe
Working in local edmonton restaurant as a foreign worker at work permitt, 7 days a week, 12 to 14 hour shift and no overtime but restaurant owner still crying for cheap labor while driving $250k luxury vehicle himself and same vehicles for family members. May be its hard in rural area but in cities, restaurant owners are making money of foreign workers.
South asians Indians, have control over the food industry in al levels from small bussines to big companies, they hire their own people, there is no room for Canadians with experience, youths or Canadians eager to survive or willing to make a career in a food industry
Aditionally of that some of them has no experience at all
Thou shall serve aunty smithh
Landry
You are totally incorrect. They are not temporary
The youth of Canada have been pushed out of the hospitality industry by temporary foreign workers. Canadian employees “first”
Jeff Mack…100% agree about business hiring within their own culture, saw it lots. Also l have noticed when commercials, cartoon and television shows need a person that is a little dumb it is ALWAYS the white male, ALWAYS..
Some good Comments on here today. Canadians deserve to be first in line in their job find.
There are many cultures who have come here and started a business hiring only their own culture. I see this everywhere. There are the honest and not so honest.
more red tape on immigration is a good thing.
I don’t understand why the hospitality industry is facing labour shortages and why employers need to resort to hiring foreign workers. I’m a mother of a youth looking for work, putting out countless of applications and not getting a bite. What does my daughter have to do to get a job and start building experience? What does any of our youth in Alberta and in Canada have to do to get a job? It seems to me that they ( youth, born and raised in this country in this province, dare I say causians) are overlooked and picked over for hiring foreign workers all for saving money offering them cheap wages. My daughter is willing to start anywhere, anytime, at the legal minimum starting wage of Alberta. I understand this is a commentary under Global news media and journalism. Can I ask is global news hiring? If so, how can we submit a covering letter and resume?
Proper thing! The lunatic Left want our youth unemployed and reading porn in school. I don’t know how anyone takes them seriously?
Keep up the good work Danielle. We are going in the right direction again – and no equity cards LOL!
Can’t find people that want to work overnight shifts? Maybe try and pay them more.
We have not yet voted on whether we want Alberta to be a separate country. Smith is thinking she should treat it as such. This is against the constitution, where immigration is a national responsibility. We should not have an immigration department, and not have this illegal law try to get on the books. It should never pass the courts. They can take their plan and bury it. An immigration consultant is licensed federally, through CICC. They are not going to bow to Smith.
Jak, so you like the fact we have a 14% youth unemployment rate? Did you see the young adults lining up for the job fair where most will not find employment? How about you give up your job for a TFW.
Is there a go, F.K. yourself bill
Nahhhh… If you NEED temporary foreign workers you shouldn’t be in business here.
See that youth job fair?
Where is red tape reduction fit into all this?
Smithy must be booted out
Good! The less jobs given to durka durkas in this province and the county, the better!!
They are lying, the food all sucks because it’s all the same cheap stuff. Better off cooking for yourself,cheaper and way more tasty.
So what’s wrong with ensuring these workers are not fraudulently hired and paid half of what they should earn in some cash in hand under the table deals?
There are thousands of students looking for a summer job at entry level pay, and they should get priority hiring.