Business owners launch suit over temporary foreign workers
This is an ethical puzzler. A group of Quebec business owners have launched a $300‑million lawsuit against the federal government, saying they may face bankruptcy if Canada cuts the number of temporary foreign workers allowed in, as it is planning to do.
François Legault says Quebec can’t provide services for the large numbers of workers admitted in recent years.
So, questions: Is the reason that these businesses need foreign workers simply because they will work for less than a citizen or permanent resident would, and put up with more bullshit? Is that a fair thing to allow?
Is Quebec working against its own interests in pushing for a reduction in numbers, when this puts its businesses in jeopardy?
And, most importantly: is there any way to solve this problem, leaving out for the moment the issues of citizenship and residency? There is work to be done and people willing to do it. Can things be structured so that the work gets done, the workers are paid and treated fairly, and yet everyone has a place to live and medical care when needed?
Does anyone know, do any of these workers bring their whole family along? When I was doing the census, the workers I talked to were all men, and when asked if they were married they grinned and said “Not here!” so guessed there could be women and children back home that they were helping provide for. In other words, does Legault have the leverage to claim that we’re also paying to educate temporary workers’ kids?
Joey 18:42 on 2025-07-19 Permalink
All pertinent questions, few with easy answers. As for the lawsuit, IANAL but it sounds insane to me, and the implication that straight-up business interests trump (har) all others is depressing. Maybe H. John can weigh in.
su 09:48 on 2025-07-20 Permalink
Are any of those plaintiffs involved in the lucrative and growing remittance industry?
jeather 09:54 on 2025-07-20 Permalink
You can find the list of businesses here: https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2025/07/19/travailleurs-etrangers-temporaires–des-entreprises-poursuivent-ottawa-pour-300-m
su 10:52 on 2025-07-20 Permalink
Maybe those manufacturing businesses can move to other countries where there are plenty of willing employees who would probably be happier working in their homeland rather than under the conditions being offered here.
Kate 11:22 on 2025-07-20 Permalink
Thanks for that link, jeather.
H. John 15:50 on 2025-07-20 Permalink
In response to some of Kate’s questions, in their article about the case The Globe & Mail cited Mike Moffatt, an economics professor, who “argued that while the federal policy shift was abrupt, the Quebec companies could reasonably have predicted that it would ramp down at some point.
““What goes up has to come down,” he said. “I don’t understand how they could think this would be a permanent thing, when all of the increases were couched as being temporary to deal with the pandemic.”
Chronic shortages of native-born manual workers, meanwhile, should eventually be resolved by increasing pay to make those jobs more attractive, he said. “At a certain point we have to say, ‘How much should government be subsidizing industries that aren’t raising their wages?’”
@Joey “as to the lawsuit” without seeing what’s being argued, I’m hesitant to give an answer; but, I would point out the lawyer, also a “Membre de la Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec (FPJQ)”, opened his doctoral thesis writing this:
“The boundary between politics and intellectual activism is generally fluid. The whole universe of political-constitutional thought while banging the doctrinal drum is often merely a political construct rather than grounded in fact.”