Liberal MP's company employing temporary foreign workers

The Canadian Press / Adrian Wyld

A company owned by Sukh Dhaliwal, the Liberal member of Parliament for British Columbia's Surrey—Newton riding, is among the long list of Canadian companies hiring temporary foreign workers.

Dhaliwal & Associates Land Surveying was given the green light to hire “legal administrative assistants” under the federal temporary foreign workers program, reports the Toronto Sun.

Poilievre tells David Menzies the Trudeau Liberals have "destroyed our entire immigration system" and that temporary foreign workers "should only be available to fill jobs that employers have proven beyond a doubt cannot be filled by Canadians."https://t.co/TXq29qhTJo pic.twitter.com/qngN3GIoX9

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) August 9, 2024

Like many other Canadian employers, it appears as though Dhaliwal's company is looking to capitalize on the benefits offered to companies for hiring temporary foreign workers.

Meanwhile, nearly 25% of Canadians are so tight on finances they anticipate using a food bank this fall, according to data from Statistics Canada, per Blacklock's Reporter.

The federal government has signed off on and approved every single job given to a temporary foreigner.

The rot is deep inside Employment Canada (ESDC).

A change of government won’t remove the bureaucrats who have rubber stamped the replacement of Canadian workers. https://t.co/CCg8kD0LQI

— Harrison Faulkner (@Harry__Faulkner) July 8, 2024

“All we hear about are labour shortages, [but] we have to begin to recognize that this really is a self-serving narrative mostly coming from corporate Canada,” Mikal Skuterud, a labour economics professor at the University of Waterloo told the CBC.

The changes to the temporary foreign worker program have drawn the ire from both left- and right-wing critics and came into effect in 2022 shortly after Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh reached a “confidence-and-supply agreement” that sees Singh's NDP prop up the Liberals in return for some political concessions. 

Short thread time: How on earth did the number of low-wage temporary foreign workers nearly triple in 2022?

TL;DR - The federal government made some massive changes a mere 13 days after the Liberals and NDP signed the Supply and Confidence Agreement. pic.twitter.com/PrQ6XeJ1xT

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt 🇨🇦🏅🏅 (@MikePMoffatt) August 10, 2024

Following the changes, the number of temporary foreign workers in the country exploded. In a viral thread on X, economist Mike Moffatt outlined the rapid changes.

“One impactful change was weakening the rule that an employer could only have 10% of their workforce be temporary foreign workers. That got raised to 20%, and in some industries like "accommodation and fast food services" that got raised to 30%,” Moffatt wrote, citing a government document.

“This was a deliberate move by the federal government to suppress wage growth for low-income Canadians, and increase the number of temporary workers, who have much weaker labour rights than permanent residents,” he added.