12) ON "REFORMS" TO THE TFWP

Central Executive Committee, Communist Party of Canada, May 2013

      The "package of changes" to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program announced recently by the Harper government is a transparent attempt to feign concern and blunt growing opposition to the TFWP, while keeping the essence of this cheap‑labour, anti‑worker program firmly in place.

     Since coming to office, the Conservatives have systematically transformed Canada's immigration system, placing employers' interests in acquiring cheap, disposable labour as the top priority, while downgrading the importance of family reunification, refugee resettlement and other humanitarian concerns. Now that the mass media has finally exposed the true exploitative character of the TFWP, the Tories profess their innocence and ignorance about such TFWP "abuses", and claim that the government will now "ensure Canadians have first chance at available jobs."

     This is sheer rubbish which should fool no one. The Communist Party urges the entire labour movement, the unemployed, immigrant communities and all democratically‑minded Canadians to continue the fight against the TFWP and the entire pro‑corporate immigration/migrant worker agenda. Instead, we need to demand decent wages, access to full benefits, and union protection for all foreign workers, while scaling back such programs in favour of permanent resident‑based immigration.

(The above article is from the May 16-31, 2013, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)