As Canadians struggle to secure employment, new government data show Ottawa has issued more permits to temporary foreign cooks than any other occupation.

Of the 17,554 applications approved in 2011, most were awarded to jobs that require limited training: from cooks, painters and roofers to drywall installers and labourers.

The figures, obtained by the Star from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada data, raise new questions about the country’s controversial temporary foreign worker program as Ottawa tries to adopt a hire-Canadian-first approach.

It also comes as the Conference Board of Canada has released a report questioning the growth of the program in light of the country’s high jobless rate.

“If the unemployment rate remains relatively high and so many young and able Canadians are unable to find work, why are we still bringing in so many people under the TFW program?” the report asked.

Federal officials, however, have repeatedly defended the temporary workers’ program and insisted that recent reforms would ensure it was being used to fill acute skills shortages across the country.

“Our government believes that Canadians must have first crack at available jobs,” wrote Ana Curic, spokeswoman for Jason Kenney, the newly named minister of employment and social development

“We recently introduced reforms that will require greater efforts be made to recruit and train Canadians to fill available jobs. These reforms will help ensure the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is only used as intended — to fill acute skills shortages on a temporary basis.”

Although the jobless rate has declined to 7.1 per cent, the foreign worker pool has kept growing, reaching 340,000 last year.

Leading the way for getting approved in 2011 were cooks with 5,428 approvals, followed by industrial instrument technicians and mechanics (1,272); truck drivers (862); chefs (723); and carpenters (723).

(The 2011 data exclude farm workers and caregivers, and does not reflect the total number admitted because some occupations, countries with trade agreements and intra-company transfers are exempted. Also, one Labour Market Opinion assessment approval can cover more than one position.)

“I have a very hard time understanding why we don’t have enough Canadians qualified to work in fast food jobs,” said immigration lawyer and policy analyst Richard Kurland, who obtained the statistics through an access to information request.

“Qualifications (of the candidates) are not an issue, but the availability of workers is an issue because of the level of wages offered.”

In April, Ottawa

tightened up the foreign worker program, suspending the accelerated LMO process, eliminating “wage flexibility” in hiring foreign workers, raising fees for work permits and endowing officials with more power to suspend and revoke permits.

“These reforms will require that greater efforts be made to recruit and train Canadians to fill available jobs,” former Immigration Minister Kenney said at the time.

Lorraine Trotter, acting dean of George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, said young Canadians are eager to pursue a career as cooks. The school’s enrolment has been on a steady rise to 1,261 last year.

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“We have to turn away students every year because we don’t have enough room for them,” said Trotter.

There have been more job opportunities for culinary students, she said, from back-of-the-kitchen entry-level jobs in food preparation for processed take-home meals at shops such as Loblaws’ to sous chef positions at new hotel chains.

Garth Whyte, president and CEO of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, said the sector employs 1.1 million Canadians and temporary foreign workers only make up 2 per cent of the workforce. It faces the constant challenge of rising food and labour costs.

An industry survey found 28 per cent of operators experienced shortages for skilled labour and another 11 per cent were in need of unskilled entry-level workers.

Whyte said the sector is expected to see a labour shortage of 35,000 by 2015 and 76,000 by 2020.

“We are in competition with other industries. It is hard to get people,” he said, adding that being cooks is hard work and “they have to love it.”

Whyte said hiring foreign workers is a tedious and costly process, and hardly saves employers money.

The conference board report said the conundrum of labour shortage and unemployment can be attributed to skills mismatch and “labour market rigidities” (e.g. higher unemployment benefits in certain geographic areas that affect relocation decisions).

“Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer,” said the report, the final installment of a three-part series examining Canada’s post-recession job market.

Kurland said the government needs to plan long-term training for Canadian workers. If a sector is experiencing chronic labour shortage, it may well indicate the sector has underpaid its workers, he added.

“It is either more foreign workers or higher salary offers,” Kurland said.