Tim Hortons has announced it will hire local workers for its expansion plan rather than relying on the temporary foreign worker program, citing high youth employment. The chain currently employs about 4,000 temporary foreign workers, making up 3.6% of its restaurant roles. The move is seen as a de facto acknowledgement that the program harms job prospects for young Canadians, especially amid a weak summer job market and youth unemployment. The company had previously lobbied to loosen rules but now says that is unnecessary. Critics argue that foreign labor intensifies competition for entry-level jobs and suppresses wage growth, and that the blame lies with policymakers and employers who expanded the program. The decision follows a period where Tim Hortons ramped up use of the program to address COVID-related staffing challenges.
A Tim Hortons in Toronto on May 21. The chain currently employs approximately 4,000 temporary foreign workers, making up 3.6 per cent of all restaurant roles.that it will hire local workers for its expansion plan, rather than bring them in through the temporary foreign worker program .
In fact, the restaurant chain’s unnecessary reliance on foreign workers is a case study on why the program should be scrapped.of the program. While it’s been reducing its use of temporary foreign workers, the chain still employs approximately 4,000 of them, making up 3.6 per cent of all restaurant roles.
Of course, it’s been more difficult for employers to hire foreign nationals in the last couple of years, aslower the percentage of foreign workers businesses can hire and prevent hires in cities with high unemployment. Up until last year, Tim Hortons had been lobbying to loosen the rules again, but now it says that due to high youth employment nationally, lobbying is no longer needed.
The company’s move is a de facto acknowledgement that the program is harming job prospects for young Canadians. The summer job market has been weak over the past few years, and the youth unemployment rate, currently atthat large numbers of temporary foreign workers and international students who arrived between 2022 and 2024 intensified competition for lower-skill and entry-level jobs, making it harder for young people to find work. Foreign labour also puts downward pressure on wage growth.
The blame here doesn’t fall on the foreign workers themselves, but on Ottawa and the employers that lobbied to expand the program. Youth unemployment harms individuals over their lifetimes, reducing their long-term earning potential, and leading to negative mental and physical health outcomes, according to aTim Hortons has said it ramped up use of the program to deal with staffing challenges due to COVID.
While the early days of the pandemic were certainly disruptive, changing Canada’s immigration system to fill short-term labour gaps is bad policy.in the country are too numerous to easily be absorbed into our permanent immigration system, and many are desperately looking at a shrinking number of pathways to stay. Many are low wage workers, who bring less economic benefits to the country, yet they now have an edge on getting permanent residency due to their Canadian experience.
Instead of catering to employers’ short-term needs, Canada’s immigration system should offer a clear path to permanent residency that doesn’t rely on first becoming a temporary worker. The immigration ministry should select the best qualified immigrants, and not rely on the picks of local restaurant managers. Tim Hortons says it will still need temporary foreign workers in rural and remote areas, but even this practice is unnecessary.
The chain, its parent company Restaurant Brands, and its franchisees could surely crunch numbers and factor in higher pay to attract workers in rural and remote locations. If they can’t make the numbers work, they should adjust operations. , rural employers in participating provinces have been allowed to temporarily boost the amount of low-wage temporary foreign workers to 15 per cent of their staff, instead of 10 per cent.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told The Globe and Mail editorial board earlier this month that the temporary foreign worker program should be wound down except for on farms. He’s right in calling out corporate Canada for falsely claiming that they can’t find local workers.
“The solution for a labour shortage is higher wages, not bringing in lower wage people from poorer countries,” he said. Interestingly, the NDP, on the other side of the political spectrum, agrees. The Liberals under Mark Carney have reined in many of the immigration excesses of the Trudeau era, but there’s still a long way to go. A sound policy announcement this summer, as young people struggle to find work, would be to scrap the temporary foreign worker program.
Tim Hortons Temporary Foreign Worker Program Youth Unemployment Canadian Employment Wage Growth
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