The weather may be hot, but Canada’s latest economic indicators are stone cold. In July, the country lost 31,200 net jobs, the biggest one-month drop in full-time work since 2011.

In June, Canada’s global trade deficit hit a record of its own: $3.6 billion. Said BMO Chief Economist Doug Porter: “The overall story here is the Canadian economy is barely growing … And the drag on the economy is in the export sector, the one area of the economy where I think there were very high hopes. We’re basically still incredibly dependent on consumer spending and housing to keep pulling the economy along.”

Yet despite the drop in jobs and stagnation in exports, the Trudeau government apparently is considering easing restrictions on foreign workers. The Globe and Mail reported this week that “a Liberal-dominated House of Commons committee has completed a report on options for altering the controversial program and will make the recommendations public next month when Parliament resumes … The report is expected to acknowledge the need for temporary foreign workers in specific sectors and will stress the importance of providing foreign workers with options to become permanent Canadian residents.”

The report was completed in June, before the bad July jobs numbers were known. But despite the worsening economic climate, the report’s recommendations remain on the table. On a recent trade trip to China, Immigration Minister John McCallum suggested that the Liberal government would make it easier for Canadian companies to bring in foreign workers. “We’re also going to reduce some of the barriers and the silly rules … in order to give companies freedom to bring in the best and the brightest. We’ll get rid of many of these (required) labour-market impact assessments which slow things down enormously.”

The “silly rules” in question supposedly relate to restrictions on visiting professors, but a spokesperson for McCallum also said that labour-market impact assessments in certain cases would be waived to help attract top talent. So McCallum was not talking about opening up seasonal worker jobs or other low-skilled work; he was talking about higher-level, higher-paid employment — the kind that middle class, educated Canadians likely would covet for themselves.

If the quid pro quo for those new trade agreements — such as a possible free trade deal with China — is allowing more foreign workers into Canada, especially in skilled positions, Ottawa could see pushback from voters. If the quid pro quo for those new trade agreements — such as a possible free trade deal with China — is allowing more foreign workers into Canada, especially in skilled positions, Ottawa could see pushback from voters.

That might not sit well with those Canadians who voted for the Liberals’ commitment to “grow the middle class” and create jobs through their “investment, jobs and growth plan”. In the 2015 election, the Liberals pledged to spend $60 billion over ten years on infrastructure to create jobs. They promised $1.5 billion over four years for a youth jobs strategy, $900 million over three years for jobs and innovation, $800 million over four years for new training, and $100 million for building trade training equipment. They also pledged to create “a new export promotion strategy that will help businesses take advantage of new trade agreements.”

But if the quid pro quo for those agreements — such as a possible free trade deal with China — is allowing more foreign workers into Canada, especially in skilled positions, Ottawa could see pushback from voters. The previous Conservative government had significantly expanded the temporary foreign worker program and came under heavy fire after several controversial cases, including one in 2013 where RBC used the program to outsource work that had been done by Canadians. Other high-profile cases involved the granting of permits in 2012 to a Chinese coal mining company to bring in 200 Chinese miners for its operations in B.C., and the hiring of hospitality personnel at a B.C. fast food outlet and a Saskatchewan hotel.

At the time, the Globe and Mail reported, the number of foreign workers in the “accommodation and food services” sector had grown from 4,360 in 2006 to 44,740 in 2014 — a whopping 926 per cent increase.

This demand for temporary foreign workers was not being driven solely by skill shortages — it was also due to the fact that these foreign workers usually toiled for lower wages and fewer benefits than their Canadian equivalents. Numbers tell the story: From 2002 to 2012, the number of foreign workers ballooned from 101,078 to 338,221; by 2015, the number had dropped to 90,211, of which 53,000 were in primary agriculture, 22,000 were in high-wage positions and 15,000 were in low-wage jobs.

Not surprisingly, employers have now welcomed the news that the new Liberal government may ease restrictions on workers, or scrap the program entirely. “It cuts into our bottom line,” said Humphrey Banack, vice-president of the Alberta Federation of Agriculture. But while it’s true that there are many jobs Canadians simply won’t take, particularly in agriculture, there are others, such as the jobs at RBC, that could see existing Canadian employees replaced with temporary foreign ones if restrictions are lifted.

The Liberals claim to be searching for an “intermediate” position on the issue of foreign workers. They should tread carefully. If unemployment numbers continue to creep up, easing restrictions will be a tough sell to out-of-work Canadians — and middle class employees who worry they could be next.

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