Changes in the works for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, Carney says

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that the government is working on changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).

In an address to the Liberal caucus in Edmonton on Sept. 10, Carney said that moving forward the TFWP “must have a focused approach that targets specific, strategic sectors, and needs in specific regions,” and that the government was actively working toward these objectives.

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Carney did not provide any details on the nature of the potential changes.

The TFWP is Canada’s flagship program for issuing work permits to foreign nationals. The program requires that an employer undergo a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) before the worker can apply for a work permit.

The LMIA, undertaken by Employment and Social Development Canada, must indicate that the hiring of the foreign worker is expected to have a neutral or positive impact on the Canadian labour market – that is, that availability of jobs for Canadian citizens and permanent residents will remain unchanged, or actually increase, as a result of the hiring of a foreign worker for that position.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has recently taken aim at the TFWP, claiming that the program has led to fewer job opportunities for Canadians, and the Conservative Party of Canada has called for the abolition of the program.

Over the past year and a half, the government has made a number of changes to scale back on the TFWP, including

• Setting a target of 82,000 net new admissions of TFWP workers for the year 2025;
• Establishing a moratorium on the processing of low-wage LMIAs in regions with an unemployment rate of 6% or higher;
• Raising the wage threshold for the high-wage stream of the TFWP to 20% above the median regional wage;
• Lowering the caps for the percentage of an employer’s workforce that can be employed through the TFWP; and
• Limiting availability of spousal open work permits (SOWPs) to spouses of TFWP holders working in TEER 0 or 1 occupations, or in select in-demand TEER 2 or 3 occupations, and requiring that the TFWP holder have at least 16 months remaining on their work permit.

According to government data, overall issuances of work permits from Jan - June in 2025 have fallen by 50% relative to last year, while over the same period only 33,722 net new TFWP work permits were issued.

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