XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ab.politics   
   XPost: ont.politics, sk.politics, man.politics   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   Sounds like more 'planning' and 'proposals' and 'reviewing' to delay the   
   implementation of new regulations for the damaging Temporary Foreign Worker   
   program.   
   After all, no companies have benefited from it more than those in the Alberta   
   region of the tarsands.  And across the country, in low or minimum-wage jobs   
   that sustained the youth in our country.  Watch this government stretch out   
   their 'planning' right through to the next election - while foreign workers   
   continue to work at Canadian jobs.   
   _________________________________________________   
   — CP — Sep 25 2014   
      
      
   Feds aim to get tougher on TFW violators   
      
      
   OTTAWA - The federal government is considering lifetime bans and heftier fines   
   on employers found to have violated its new regulations on temporary foreign   
   workers.   
      
   In a discussion paper posted overnight on the Employment and Social Development   
   website, the government proposes permanent bans in addition to expanding   
   penalties to include one-, five- and 10-year moratoriums that would forbid   
   businesses from applying for temporary foreign workers.   
      
   Currently there are only two-year bans imposed on companies that have broken   
   the rules.   
      
   The names of the banned employers would be made public, the proposals state.   
   There are currently four companies listed on the government's so-called TFW   
   public blacklist, with no new additions since early June, three weeks before   
   Employment Minister Jason Kenney unveiled his crackdown on the program.   
      
   In efforts to deliver on that overhaul, the feds are also now proposing minimum   
   fines of $500 to a maximum of $100,000 for serious violations — in particular   
   those that have resulted in a significant financial benefit to an employer.   
      
   The length of the ban would depend upon the type of violation, the employer's   
   history of compliance, the severity of the violation and the size of the   
   business, the paper states.   
      
   The government is asking stakeholders for their input into the proposals. The   
   deadline for submissions is Oct. 16.   
      
   Stakeholders and critics say they're puzzled by the proposals, wondering why   
   the government hasn't been taking such measures for years.   
      
   "This is the kind of thing they should have been doing right from the start,"   
   said Dan Kelly, head of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.   
      
   "My hope is that if they go down this road, maybe they can unwind some of the   
   terrible reforms that they made in the summer that are unfairly penalizing   
   companies that haven't done anything wrong."   
      
   The overhaul, Kelly added, continues to target the restaurant sector. He says   
   12 fast-food restaurant proposals were recently shelved in Alberta due to the   
   province's labour shortage.   
      
   "So we're missing out on economic development, we're losing out on growth and   
   growing our tax base as a result of these heavy-handed changes."   
      
   Western premiers, including Alberta's newly elected Jim Prentice, have   
   complained that the government's overhaul has been too onerous. Prentice is a   
   former federal cabinet colleague of Kenney's.   
      
   The western leaders say their provinces are grappling with low unemployment   
   rates and facing genuine shortages of skilled labour, requiring temporary   
   foreign workers to fill the void.   
      
   Jinny Sims, the NDP's employment critic, also questioned why the government   
   hadn't been imposing such penalties for years. She also raised concerns about   
   enforcing the tougher rules.   
      
   "Despite their grand claims of reform, this paper reveals how pitifully little   
   the Conservatives have actually done to fix the program," she said.   
      
   "The sanctions also depend on catching violators, and the discussion paper says   
   not all inspections will involve a site visit, so once again they're going to   
   rely on paperwork .... how do you judge from a piece of paper? It makes no   
   sense."   
      
   The government is also proposing penalizing employers even if their failure to   
   comply was unintentional — for example, an accounting error that results in a   
   temporary foreign worker being underpaid.   
      
   The feds say they'll want to start assessing the circumstances surrounding a   
   company's non-compliance when determining the amount of the fine or the length   
   of the ban "so there is still an incentive for the employer to take corrective   
   action."   
      
   "Right now, if an employer is caught withholding wages, they can quickly pay   
   the worker and get away with it," Sims said. "Why is the government only trying   
   to crack down on this practice now?"   
   _______________________________________   
      
   Stop worrying about the pay for the temporary workers, Ms Sims . . . . start   
   talking about the lost jobs for Canadians because of the temporary workers in   
   this country.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)