XPost: can.politics, ab.politics, edm.politics   
   XPost: edm.general, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   Albertans elected this government, now they're seeing their jobs either   
   disappear or held to the lowest minimum wage in the country.   
      
   Albertans - getting the government they deserve.   
   __________________________________________   
      
      
   Edmonton Sun -  Saturday, May 17, 2014   
      
   TFWs in Alberta has grown from 7,000 to 85,000.   
      
      
      
   Alberta Labour Minister blasts feds over foreign workers   
      
      
   Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk says the federal government's temporary   
   foreign worker (TFW) program is inhumane and economically unsound.   
      
   Lukaszuk made the comments to a packed room at the University of Alberta   
   Saturday during a forum organized by Migrante Alberta.   
      
   "We need you here to stay. A revolving door is simply not humane, and   
   economically not sound," he said.   
      
   "In most cases what we need in Canada, and particularly in Alberta, is   
   permanent foreign workers."   
      
   Lukaszuk blasted federal Employment Minister Jason Kenney for suspending   
   the TFW program in the food sector last month to launch a review, after   
   several Canadian businesses were accused of giving TFWs more hours or   
   priority work status.   
      
   Lukaszuk said he learned of the decision unexpectedly through a news   
   broadcast and called the move "simply un-Canadian."   
      
   "There was zero consultation with those that are most affected, which is   
   you, or with the provincial government," Lukaszuk said.   
      
   "Government has the capacity to fix a program without just stopping it."   
      
   Lukaszuk, who serves as co-chair on the Council of Canadian Immigration   
   Ministers, said he is convinced of the need for foreign workers in in   
   Alberta.   
      
   He said his family, which emigrated from Poland when he was a kid, would   
   not have been allowed into Canada under current immigration laws.   
      
   Lukaszuk has written a letter to Kenney and said he will keep pushing   
   the federal government to develop a foreign worker program that better   
   reflects Alberta's needs.   
      
   "Any and all jobs that are available in Canada must be available to   
   Canadians first. But when there are no Canadians ready, willing or able   
   to take those jobs, those jobs nonetheless have to be filled," he said.   
      
   NDP Labour Critic Rachel Notley agreed the TFW program needs to go,   
   calling it fundamentally flawed, but called out the PC government for   
   "exploiting" the program over the past 10 years.   
      
   During that time, the number of TFWs in Alberta has grown from 7,000 to   
   85,000.   
      
   "The problem is that we do not have a free market when we bring in   
   workers who do not have the right to leave their employer, to go to   
   university, to seek the support of their family, and to stand up for   
   their rights in the workplace. That is not a free market," Notley said.   
      
   "As long as that is the case, the temporary foreign worker program   
   proceeds to exploit you and suppress wages for everybody."   
      
   Kenney has said an announcement on the TFW program is coming in four to   
   five weeks, but has not specified if that means the moratorium will end.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)