With the Federal government looking to overhaul the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business is concerned, particularly for the agri-business sector.

According to the CFIB’s latest report, farmers are struggling with chronic labour shortages and TFWs are an answer to the problem.

However, they believe the government’s processes need to be streamlined to make hiring TFWs easier.

Juliette Nicolay with the CFIB, shares some data on the labour shortage.

“They just cannot find local candidates and the problem is not going away.  The estimated vacancies for 2030 are 100 thousand.”

Nicolay says it’s not unheard of for TFWs to be poached from their initial employer.

That’s why they are asking Ottawa to consider a mechanism to compensate the initial costs covered by the employer whose worker has left for another job.

Hear more about the TFW program and how Canadian employers rely on them, catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10.