The News Rundown

Poilievre calls for temporary foreign worker program to be scrapped

Last week we talked about the government continuing to blow past their immigration targets and part of that problem comes down to temporary foreign workers.
This week Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre called for the temporary foreign worker program to be ended.
Now one may initially think that this is only a conservative push but BC Premier David Eby has also called for the program to be significantly reformed or cancelled.
Once upon a time Canada had an immigration consensus, now, that consensus is all but gone.
Poilievre and the Conservatives are painting the immigration issue as one that is hurting entry level workers and exploiting foreigners.
Poilievre said, "The Liberals have to answer, 'Why is it that they are shutting our own youth out of jobs and replacing them with low-wage, temporary foreign workers from poor countries who are ultimately being exploited.’”
The Liberal government promised a cap of 82,000 TFWs in 2025 and up to this point, 105,000 permits have been granted.
Many modern high earning countries have a low-skilled labour class. In the US it’s illegal immigrants and in Europe it’s those who move from poorer Eastern European countries to Western Europe or people arriving from the Middle East and Africa illegally.
In Canada that low-skilled labour class has become the temporary foreign worker.
This is something that the entire Conservative caucus has been highlighting.
Conservative Immigration Critic Michelle Rempel Garner said, "Not long ago, young Canadians could gain vital skills in entry-level jobs, earn enough to pay for school and build a future.”
She has also been posting horrible uses of the TFW program on X highlighting businesses using the program in a bad way.
A sampling of highlighted job ads includes:

A Starbucks in Vancouver hiring a temporary foreign worker for $36/hr.
A Mucho Burrito in Ottawa is also hiring a temporary foreign worker for $36/hr.
A Domino’s Pizza in Niagara Falls hiring a temporary foreign worker for $36/hr.
A Baskin Robins doing the same in Burnaby for $35/hr.
A Canadian Tire in Kingston hiring a TFW for $42.78/hr.
A Tim Horton’s in Calgary hiring a TFW for $36/hr.

Now you would be forgiven for thinking that the TFW program is primarily hiring for entry level low skill jobs as it was intended. However, the jobs listed above are for managerial positions.
Managerial positions that could be filled by Canadians providing them a living wage.
Now some may think that if the Conservatives are highlighting these higher paying positions there may not be entry level positions being hired for, but that is not the case.
Tim Horton’s, McDonald’s, Subway, all the major fast food companies where a teenager would initially go for their first job are hiring temporary foreign workers.
jobwatchcanada.com lists companies hiring TFWs, if you don’t believe these figures or stats, you can go and look yourself.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said that when he talks with businesses, their number one issue is tariffs and the second is how to get more foreign workers.
He said, “that program has a role, it has to be focused in terms of its role. It's part of what we will be discussing — how well the temporary foreign worker program is working and how our overall immigration system is working.”
Dan Kelley, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation for Independent Business said, "If you're trying to hire [someone] in rural Saskatchewan to come to work in your quick service restaurant, it's unlikely that the unemployed kid from Toronto is going to move cross country."
BC Premier David Eby wants the program cancelled or changed because youth unemployment is too high but he also wants to ensure that the farming and agriculture industry that legitimately need TFWs are accommodated.
This push comes as the most recent jobs report shows youth unemployment rising to 14% and nearly 1 in 5 Canadian teens wants to work but can’t find work.
In BC, even Conservative opposition leader John Rustad, cautioned that scrapping the program would be bad for the tourism and agriculture industries.
This does indeed raise the question, why have such key sectors become reliant on foreign workers?
What has gone wrong with our economy to the point that foreign workers are favoured over Canadians?
These are the questions that any potential changes to the TFW program need to answer. If they don’t, the push to can the program will only become stronger.
With the immigration consensus broken these discussions will only become more and more common until Canadians feel their economy is working for them.
Supplementals:

All that we've talked about in BC these past few weeks has led to this point where the BCGEU, or the BC General Employees Union has formally gone on strike this past week. We've been keeping an eye on this story for a few weeks now, checking in to see if the BC government could make a deal, or if they would try to force a return to work. Neither has happened, and so the BCGEU remains on strike.
The province's Public Service Agency and the BCGEU's public sector bargaining team reached an impasse in July.
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey would not confirm the government's offer but pointed to the province's wider financial situation. B.C. faces a record $10-billion deficit that has forced a hiring freeze and some layoffs.
"We are in a time where economic circumstances have changed here in the province," Bailey said.
B.C. has more than 450,000 unionized public sector employees, including teachers, nurses and university staff. The Ministry of Finance estimates that a one per cent raise for those workers would cost taxpayers $419 million per year.
Kendra Strauss, director of the labour studies program at Simon Fraser University, says the government is caught between trying to maintain union support and balancing the books.
Strauss said: "The B.C. NDP is very sensitive on this issue. They're painted as the big spenders and the ones who caved to public sector unions. It's an understandable calculation on the part of the government to put a price tag on public sector wages but it also really simplifies the issue. More importantly for us as people who live in B.C. and need good public services, there are also staffing shortages."
The union last took job action in 2022 — a two-week strike impacting B.C. Liquor Distribution Warehouses. At the time, the government and BCGEU reached a three-year deal that resulted in between a 12 and 14 per cent wage increase for unionized workers over three years.
This time, talks broke down because the NDP does not have any money left in the budget for wage increases. As a result, according to BCGEU president Paul Finch: “Ninety-two-point-seven per cent of members voted in favour of taking this action, and 86.4 per cent of eligible members voted, That is an overwhelming mandate.”
Finch said about half of BCGEU members are living paycheque to paycheque, and that the province’s last offer was for increases below the projected rate of inflation. The union, he said, is seeking 4 per cent in year one followed by 4.25 per cent in year two, with a cost of living allowance clause.
We talked about this on Western Context previously, starting with David Eby's coronation as BC NDP leader in November 2022, with spending announcements that immediately took a toll on the province's finances, and saying that this would not leave any room for spending during a rainy day. Eby's mismanaging of the province's finances have led us to this point where we knew that unions fighting for wage increases would be jutting up against the broke BC government.
It's at the point now where more British Columbians are now leaving the province than are coming into it. Two recent reports outline how a record-high number of British Columbians are exiting the province for jobs and cheaper housing. People are running away from BC not because they want to but because they have to.
BC has long prided itself on being a primo province, one people want to move to and live in for the mild climate, stunning scenery, exceptional quality of life and opportunities for entrepreneurs, workers, families, couples, singletons and retirees. Only some of that is true now. Nice weather and a lake-and-mountain views aren't enough to keep many British Columbians tethered to a province with fewer opportunities and skyrocketing cost of living.
An Angus Reid poll, indicated 36% of British Columbians were considering moving out of the province, mostly to Alberta and Ontario, for career options and more affordable housing. That number jumped to 50% for millennials, the generation aged 28-43, the very backbone of the working population, who are falling behind in wages and home ownership.
If the NDP want to continue to cater to their base and keep BC as a province of desirability, then they need to right the ship and get the economy back on track. If you don't have economic health, you don't have anything.
Supplementals:

Danielle Smith is right, the board is wrong in stupid book ban fight…

Book ban book ban book ban!
That’s what the media has been screaming about with the usual interview hits focusing on the likes of the NDP, the unions, the school boards, and Margarat Atwood.
But more on the latter in a little while, first the so-called book ban.
Earlier this year we talked about Alberta detailing a list of books to be removed from Alberta school libraries that were available in both Edmonton and Calgary schools.
The books depicted graphic pornography available to those under the age of 18 without parental consent.
In our first story on the matter we shared the link detailing the books but we won’t do that today for the sake of everyone reading our full show notes.
In response to this order to remove such content the Edmonton Public School board produced a list of 200 books that they claimed they’d have to take off the shelves to comply.
Authors included Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Maya Angelou, and George R.R. Martin.
The core issue were four books with graphic visual depictions of children engaged in sexual activity.
Instead of complying with that the Edmonton Board targeted books like The Great Gatsby and 1984.
The media press conference this week responding to this saw the usual tricks employed by the media with suggestions that it was an anti-LGBTQ push by the UCP government but if the media had done their due diligence they’d have seen there were images of straight kids having sex as well.
Danielle Smith’s press conference responding to the board depicts why she is Premier. While answering questions the images from the books were displayed on a TV screen next to her. Why did we not see or hear Smith’s response? That’s why.
The media could have mentioned this and blurred the TV monitor in showing the press conference, but they didn’t.
Instead, they went along with the Edmonton Public School Board and presented it as a free speech issue.
Smith said, “We asked school boards to use their discretion to identify books that might not be age appropriate for elementary school children, and then to an Edmonton Public is clearly doing a little vicious compliance over what the direction is. If they need us to hold their hand through the process to identify what kind of materials are appropriate for senior high school students, what kind of materials are appropriate for junior high school students, and what kind of materials are appropriate for elementary school students, we will more than happily work with them to work through their list one by one so we can be super clear about what it is we're trying to do.”
This is what’s going to happen. In the coming week a new ministerial order will be presented by the government.
The story was not over though, perennial leftist advocate and overrated author Margaret Atwood published a social media post that the media ran with for the first half of the week criticizing the ban.
It is political all the time for people like Atwood and the Edmonton School Board because Atwood’s post ends with, “while they were doing that The Handmaid’s Tale came true and (Premier) Danielle Smith found herself with a nice new blue dress but no job.”
Now of course while this is happening the NDP opposition is lapping it up because the media has effectively done their job for them.
As it comes down to it, if the Edmonton Public School Board had their way alongside the province’s teachers union, the NDP would be the government and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi would be the premier.
Because they can’t have it that way, they decided they would try and exert a political price for removing graphic sexual books from school libraries.
The unfortunate matter is that for those who just see the surface level of this story, don’t like the UCP, and didn’t question Edmonton Public Schools really believed that the UCP wanted these sorts of books banned from schools.
As with all things though, timing is everything. Many may say that this is due to the new school year starting but there was also another substantial development regarding Alberta teachers.
Teachers are position to give 72-hours strike notice and walk off the job or be locked out.
The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association or TEBA has said that they would only use a lockout as a “reactionary response.”
The TEBA is a government statutory corporation that engages in bargaining with the Alberta Teacher’s Association.
Media stories have presented it that the Minister or Premier is solely responsible for the decision to lock out teachers if no deal is reached.
Recently the ATA turned down an offer that included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years and the hiring of 3,000 teachers across the province.
Teacher wages have gone up by just under 6% over the last decade, teachers also want class sizes addressed, and the majority of teachers voted in June in favour of strike action.
While the actions of the School Board are likely not coordinated with the ATA, the two groups share similar desired outcomes of lower class sizes and a dissatisfaction with UCP policies.
The Edmonton Public School Board’s actions regarding books could foster a “government vs. Educators” narrative that would help the contract negotiations.
At the end of the day this highlights the importance of parental involvement in education both at school, after school, and with the teachers. As well as areas such as the upcoming trustee elections this fall.
Supplementals:

Firing Line

The NDP leadership is underway — and the party is limiting signatures from 'cis' men

The federal race to replace Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader is getting underway and some of the rules have raised some eyebrows, including one that limits exactly who is allowed to nominate a candidate.
To be nominated, candidates require at least 500 signatures from party members, at least half of which must be from female-identified members and at least 100 from "other equity-seeking groups," including Indigenous people, LGBTQIA2S+ people, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities.
Rules indicate that at least 50 per cent of the total required signatures must be from NDP members who do not identify as a cisgender man — meaning a male whose reported gender corresponds to their reported sex at birth. Finally, at least 10 per cent of the signatures must come from Canada's Young New Democrats, who are the youth wing of the NDP, automatically including any NDP member under 25.
This means that only up to 100 of the 500 total members nominating a candidate can be white men older than 25. The party did not immediately respond when asked how officials would reasonably verify if members identified as cisgender men or as being part of “equity-seeking groups.”
The entry fee for the leadership race has been set at $100,000 to be submitted in four deposits of $25,000. The first payment is due with the submission of nomination signatures, while the last one is due at the membership cut-off date on January 28, 2026. The winner will be announced in Winnipeg as part of the party’s national convention on March 29, 2026.
After the party’s dismal showing in April’s federal election, then-leader Jagmeet Singh stepped down. Reduced to seven seats in the House of Commons, the NDP has lost official party status. Interim party leader Don Davies, MP for Vancouver-Kingsway, sees the search for a new leader as an opportunity.
“To reimagine a strong, progressive federal option. One that brings voices to parliament, working people, marginalized Canadians, people whose interests and voices are often forgotten,” he told CTV News during an interview at his East Vancouver constituency office.
Notably, Davies himself is a white male over 25, meaning his background is specifically one that is being limited by the NDP's leadership rules.
In a recent podcast with former TVO host Steve Paikin, NDP interim leader Don Davies admitted that his party had its “worst result” in its history and hinted the NDP should redirect its focus on working people instead of focusing too much on identity politics.
He said: “I think what the NDP has to do is do a really good navel-gazing. Are we talking about the right issues that are affecting kitchen tables in Oshawa or Trois-Rivières or Kamloops? Are we really understanding what working people are going through? I’m looking forward to the discussion in our party to see if we can reorient ourselves so we can tell workers, ‘We get you; we’ve got policies that will make your lives better.’”
Davies said he also recognizes that, at the same time, issues facing white, straight male workers are “not the same” as issues facing a worker who is a lesbian and a woman of colour and the party should find a balance between reflecting those different interests.
Asked by CTV Host Vassy Kapelos whether the leadership contest criteria could be construed as exclusionary, or that it sends a message that identity politics remain central to the NDP, Davies said that interpretation is “wrong.”
“There’s a difference between identity politics and inclusion. All parties have rules in their leadership races where they require their leadership candidates to reach out to a broad range of people.”
University of the Fraser Valley political scientist Hamish Telford said that it’s possible that particular rule may offend some – but it’s unlikely many objections will come from party faithful: “I think it opens the NDP up to criticisms from outside sources that might dismiss the NDP for making these divisions or being too woke, or whatever pejorative they may want to use. I’m not sure that New Democrats will be terribly fussed by it.”
The problem with the NDP's thinking, and the thinking of Telford, is that the party faithful is not who the NDP needs to reach out to. After a disastrous election, the NDP still haven't learned that issues facing 'straight male workers', as Davies put it, are issues facing many workers who aren't straight or male. Issues like inflation, grocery costs, access to healthcare, and housing costs are all those being faced by the working class, regardless of colour or age.
Indeed, the focus on gender and race equity by the NDP shows either that they did not learn the right lesson from the April election where so many people abandoned the NDP in favour of the Liberals or Conservatives. Until the NDP realize why people abandoned them, they will not succeed with a new leader, and will keep repeating the same mistakes.
Supplementals:

Quote of the Week

“I think what the NDP has to do is do a really good navel-gazing. Are we talking about the right issues that are affecting kitchen tables in Oshawa or Trois-Rivières or Kamloops? Are we really understanding what working people are going through? I’m looking forward to the discussion in our party to see if we can reorient ourselves so we can tell workers, ‘We get you; we’ve got policies that will make your lives better.’” - Interim NDP leader Don Davies on the NDP’s relationship with the working class.

Word of the Week

Exploitative - making use of a situation or treating others unfairly in order to gain an advantage or benefit.

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Show Data

Episode Title: Exploitation Nation
Teaser: The TFW program faces further scrutiny, the BCGEU goes on strike, and the Edmonton School Board bans more books than required. Also, the federal NDP are limiting nominations from straight white males.
Production Code: WC-434-2025-09-06
Recorded Date: September 6, 2025
Release Date: September 7, 2025
Duration: 58:54
Edit Notes: Pause Alberta story

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX