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OTTAWA — One of Vancouver’s most successful companies is warning it may be forced to move its 1,200-employee head office outside the country because of problems with the federal government’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Vancouver-based Lululemon Athletica Inc., which earlier this year delivered a scathing written critique of the strict TFW rules on hiring foreigners, wants the same kind of exemption Ottawa grants to universities, the film industry and Microsoft.

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That would allow the athletic apparel retailer, with global revenue of $2.1 billion in 2015, to avoid going through a time-consuming labour market impact assessment (LMIA) process before recruiting a senior manager or design expert from one of the world’s apparel hubs, like London, New York or San Francisco.

I think it is sabre-rattling, it is a threat

“Our growth and our ability to remain headquartered in Vancouver will require that the vertically-integrated apparel industry be granted a similar LMIA transition plan exemption as the film industry and academia,” the company stated in a paper submitted to the House of Commons finance committee in late July.