Faced with a red-hot construction market and tight domestic supplies of skilled labor, one option is for Canadian employers to look abroad for temporary foreign workers to fill positions.
"The intent of the federal government's foreign worker program is to assist employers in finding the workers they need when the supply of available Canadians to do that work is exhausted," says Mark Zeliger, regional manager of the foreign worker program for Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.
Before employers receive federal approval to bring in foreign workers, they are asked for evidence they have conducted a job search in Canada. Depending upon the position that could include postings in a national job bank, notices on its own or an association website or newspaper advertisements. The government wants to ensure that not only unemployed Canadians but those who might be looking for a better job are aware that these positions exist, he says.
An Alberta union spokesman says Canada needs to take a conservative approach in allowing foreign workers into the country.
"As it stands in Alberta, there is a tight labor market but no blanket labor shortage," says Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labor.
However, "that's not to say there aren't some periodic shortages in specific trades," he acknowledges. For example, for the next four or five years there will be a shortage of plumbers and pipefitters but not a similar situation for electricians or carpenters. "To say there is a blanket labor shortage is misrepresenting the situation."
If there is a shortage in a particular area, the federal government should deal with that issue, says McGowan. "Let's deal with that and let's not pretend the sky is falling and that we have to open the floodgates to temporary workers in all trades."
When the federal government determines there is a need to bring in foreign workers, it insists that the jobs be offered at the prevailing wage rate and that wages and working conditions are the same as they are for Canadians. The government also wants to ensure that in all cases not only are all provincial labor standards met but that foreign nationals possess the same skills and abilities as those required by Canadians in those jobs, says Zeliger.
In the case of the compulsory trades such as welding, the federal government works in partnership with Alberta Industry and Training. As part of the process, the employer will submit information on each proposed worker to the branch which will do a paper examination of credentials before each worker is allowed into Canada. If the branch is satisfied the worker's skills and abilities would allow him to challenge the Alberta exam for his trade, provided all other conditions are met, it will offer a positive labor market opinion and the federal government will issue a six-month work permit. That will give the worker time to become oriented to the Canadian workplace and to challenge the exam. If the worker is successful, the branch will extend the confirmation and the work permit will be extended for a specific period of time.
For the first six-month period, the foreign worker has to work under the supervision of a journeyman but will be paid at the journeyman level because the intent was to hire a journeyman. "There is still a sufficient supply of youths wishing to enter the trades and in Alberta you have to enter as an apprentice," says Zeliger. "We don't want to be in a position where the employer is filling those positions (apprenticeships) with foreign nationals."
However, by virtue of having more journeymen, an employer would be able to take on more apprentices.
To ensure that temporary foreign workers are not taking positions which could be filled by Canadian journeymen, employers are expected to continue to recruit Canadians and to apply on an annual basis for an extension of work permits for foreign workers.
Although until up until now there have been very few tradesmen in the foreign worker category, "it is very possible that we will see the number of foreign nationals in the trades coming to Alberta in the next year or two numbering in the thousands," predicts Zeliger. "That goes to demonstrate just how much of a demand for these workers there is," he says. "Particularly in industrial construction we are seeing a demand the likes of which we have never seen before."
In casting as wide as net as possible for competition for construction contracts, at least one company, Canadian Natural Resources Limited, has been looking abroad as well as across Canada for potential contractors. "It will be up to them to identify and plan their execution strategy and let us know how they plan to manage their work," says Real Doucet, senior vice-president, oil sands.
Two Chinese contractors are among the companies being considered for the company's Horizon oil sands tank farm which the company plans to develop this summer. However, Doucet notes there will be an incentive for a contractor to hire local workers because they will not have to pay high transportation costs, for example. "That being said, if they (Canadian workers) are not available, they (still) have to do the job."
If a foreign company wins a contract, the Canadian immigration department will permit it to bring a certain number of supervisors or engineers without a labor market opinion to ensure the job is being done properly. "For the actual work you actually have to hire Canadians or prove there aren't any," said Zeliger. "It is certainly possible to get to a complete work force of other than Canadians but it is not a foregone conclusion just because you happen to be a foreign company."
According to McGowan, Canadian workers should be available to fill those construction jobs. As the Syncrude Canada Ltd. expansion project winds down," there are literally hundreds of trade’s people who are essentially unemployed now and are looking for work," he says.
Expanded training capacity will help to address some of the issues of labor shortages but if the need in the long term is not yet known, "you don't want to train to over-capacity," Zeliger cautions. However, if the Alberta government is confident there will be continued strong demand for the next five to eight years, it is smart to train as many Canadians as possible and augment the workforce with foreign nationals, he says. "When the peak periods are gone we have the number of Canadians skilled and ready to go."
If the current pace of activity is expected to continue over the long term, "then maybe some of the foreign workers will choose to stay and the notion of expanding training capacity will start to make some sense."
