Almost half of Canadians want the Temporary Foreign Worker program eliminated: poll

A new poll suggests 44 per cent of Canadians want to see the temporary foreign worker program scrapped as the country grapples with high unemployment, especially among young people.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently proposed eliminating the program in response to high youth unemployment. The unemployment rate for people aged 15 to 24 hit 14.6 per cent nationally in July, according to Statistics Canada data.

The new Abacus Data poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, suggests that support for eliminating the program is higher among younger age cohorts, topping 50 per cent of 30- to 44-year-old respondents and hitting 48 per cent of those 18 to 29.

Only 37 per cent of respondents aged 60 and over said the program should end.

Support for ending the program is highest in the Prairie provinces and lowest in Québec and Atlantic Canada.

The poll suggests most Conservatives are in favour of what Poilievre is proposing, while opinion is divided among respondents who identified as Liberals — 36 per cent said they support eliminating the program and 39 per cent said they opposed the idea.

David Coletto, Abacus Data CEO, said this creates the "perfect wedge issue" for the Conservatives.

"This could be one of those issues like the carbon tax that the Conservatives could go all-in on and force the Liberals into an awkward position," he said.

"I think the lesson of the carbon tax is (the Liberals are) going to have to figure out how to explain why the status quo works for people, it works for the economy and it works for individuals."

Prime Minister Mark Carney last week ruled out scrapping the program, adding that it's part of a broader immigration policy review.

The government's current goal is to reduce the number of temporary residents in Canada to five per cent of the population. The share of the population made up of non-permanent residents was 7.1 per cent as of April 1.

The Conservatives plan to make immigration one of their key issues when the House of Commons reconvenes next week.

Immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner has taken to sharing on the social media platform X daily postings from Job Watch Canada, a website that tracks job postings with pending applications to hire a temporary foreign worker on the Canada Job Bank.

Postings recently highlighted by Rempel Garner include several jobs with fast food chains in Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa.

The website was built by Tyrel Chambers, a 33-year-old web developer in Peterborough, Ont., as a hobby project. 

He said that while he's surprised by the attention his website has received, there are things in the job market right now that seem "odd."

"It is really hard right now. The job market sucks. And even some family members that just graduated from university, they're struggling to find a job in their field," Chambers said.

"I think that's why this whole TFW program and what's going on is striking everyone just as odd. Because you'll see in downtown Oshawa or Regina or Vancouver where Subway and McDonald's and Tim Hortons are advocating for bringing in a TFW. It just doesn't make sense that there are so many companies that claim they can't find a Canadian worker."

Coletto said that the poll's findings speak to the "anxiety" young people are feeling about a job market being hit by multiple threats.

"(Artificial Intelligence), Trump, global uncertainty, and then the domestic macroeconomic picture is just creating that space where people are looking for answers to why they feel their life is so tough right now and they can't get it started," he said. "And I think (temporary foreign workers) may be something they can hook on."

Business and industry groups such as Restaurants Canada have said that ending the temporary foreign worker program would hurt sectors like hospitality and tourism.

The government first imposed limits on admissions of temporary residents in its immigration levels plan last year. That plan is scheduled to be updated later this fall, but Chambers said the issue of temporary workers should have been addressed much sooner. 

"I definitely think that there are legitimate scenarios for this TFW program, but it sure isn't what it looks like now. I think it definitely needs to be scaled back and definitely needs be revisited," he said.

The polling industry's professional body, the Canadian Research Insights Council, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck