Today in the legislature we debated Bill 48: Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act at second reading. This legislation seeks to improve protection for workers and the accountability of recruiters and employers. It requires the licensing of foreign worker recruiters and employers; establishes a criteria for issuing registrations; and imposes tougher penalties for recruiters and employers who violate the legislation. It also allows government to recover and return to workers illegal fees charged by recruiters. Finally, this bill creates two registries (one for foreign worker recruiters and one for employers) via a cost-free and accessible online process.

Below are the text and video of my speech in support of this bill.

Text of Speech

A. Weaver: I rise to take my place in second reading debates on Bill 48, Temporary Foreign Worker Protection Act, an act that’s been introduced by the minister to ensure protection for temporary foreign workers.

I rise to speak in support of this bill. Like the member for Chilliwack, we, too, raised a number of questions and concerns that I hope to see or be explored further in committee stage. Overall, I think this is good legislation and takes us generally in the right direction.

Temporary foreign workers play a critical role in our economy and our society, whether they’re working in the agriculture sector or as home care aides, whether they’re filling seasonal employment. For example, recently, many of us attended the Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting in Whistler. The hotel I was staying at was clearly largely employed by temporary foreign workers from New Zealand and Australia, who clearly were coming to British Columbia to gain some experience and gain some expertise in skiing.

I have a great deal in common with them. When I was their age, I was a temporary foreign worker in Australia. I was there for a year, getting the better of the surf and the sand and the Aussie rules football. It was a very rewarding experience for me back in 1988, as I’m sure it was for those young people in Whistler today.

Temporary foreign workers play many critical roles in such trades as the seasonal employment, and for many, actually, we find that it’s a pathway for eventual citizenship. Canada, as a nation — built on the hard work of immigrants — welcomes new Canadians on an ongoing basis.

In fact, just this morning, a young boy in grade 5 at a school that was visiting this Legislature, from Glenlyon, in my riding, just literally became a Canadian citizen. This was a very big deal for him — that today, he became Canadian.

Temporary foreign workers come to B.C. through multiple programs, including the temporary foreign worker program, the seasonal agricultural worker program and the international mobility program. As the member from Chilliwack pointed out, in 2017 alone, the federal government issued over 47,000 work permits for foreign nationals destined for B.C., and 17,000 of these were temporary foreign workers.

We’re second only to Ontario in terms of the total number of temporary foreign work permits that have been issued. Industries like agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting account for nearly half of the temporary foreign workers in British Columbia — like 9,000 workers. Eighty-three percent of those permits are located in the Lower Mainland, 5 percent in Thompson-Okanagan and 4 percent on Vancouver Island.

Again, as somebody…. When I was at the University of Victoria, and my wife was also faculty there, and we had young children, we, too, took advantage of the temporary foreign worker program and were able to bring to Canada a now-Canadian, somebody who was working in Hong Kong as a nanny. She was able to come to British Columbia on such a caregiver program and spend three years with us before becoming a Canadian citizen. Now she’s married here. She’s contributing to the Canadian economy. Her husband is here as well.

We benefited greatly, as a family, from being able to bring a temporary foreign worker here. I’m sure other members in this chamber have similar stories about the importance of temporary foreign workers.

One of my son’s friends had very serious health issues and required 24-hour care — his father did, rather — in the home. And, again, that care was provided by live-in, temporary foreign workers, 24 hours a day. Again, it was simply not possible to find the people, Canadians, who would be able to or willing to serve in such a capacity. Again, in this case, we had a loving home. Temporary foreign workers come, spend a few years, are now Canadian and contributing to our economy and bringing their rich, diverse cultures to Victoria, in this case, but British Columbia and Canada in general.

However, not everyone has the kind of employer that provides a nurturing, safe environment. Temporary foreign workers can be amongst some of the most vulnerable in our society. In a new country, many will face a language barrier. They may be unfamiliar with their rights and our laws, and they are at risk for exploitation and abuse.

For this reason, the legislation before us is important to support, because it addresses this particular aspect. It begins to put in place a means and mechanism to actually ensure that temporary foreign workers are not exploited. The legislation will improve protection for workers and the accountability of recruiters and employers.

For example, it will do a couple of things. It’ll create two registries, one for foreign worker recruiters and one for foreign worker employers, via a cost-free — that’s important — on-line process. It’ll allow, also, government to recover and return to workers illegal fees charged by recruiters. In particular, government could impose tougher penalties for noncompliance, including a loss of licence or registration, financial penalties — $50,000 for an individual, $100,000 for a corporation; that’s an awful lot of money — and up to one year imprisonment. The legislation will improve government information about temporary foreign workers, and recruiters and employers will also be required to disclose their relationships with recruiter organizations in various companies.

These are important, some of these changes. We know of, or we’ve heard stories of, examples where recruiters collect a fee from temporary foreign workers. They end up working here. There are examples we’ve heard stories of where passports are held from temporary foreign workers, and exploitation sets in.

Much of this bill, obviously, is modeled after the employer standards act, and it follows the lead of other jurisdictions like Manitoba and Saskatchewan, which already have temporary foreign worker registries in place. Last week one of our press gallery, Les Leyne, reported out that B.C. is considered to be well behind the pack in upholding standards and pursuing complaints. This was reported out in one of his articles he wrote. This is important to note, that this legislation does actually deal with bringing us in line with some of the other jurisdictions.

In 2018, the B.C. budget for the Minister of Labour received a $3 million increase in funding over three years to support initiatives for compliance and enforcement, improve protections for vulnerable workers and support fair and balanced treatment of workers and employers in B.C.

Within that context, we know that the legislation coming before us is legislation that has got monies associated with it to ensure that it’s delivered in a manner that will actually meet the objective it is being put together to address. Most recruiters and employers will seek to do their best for employers. We know that. But this legislation is targeting those who try to skirt the rules a little bit to ensure that there is unsafe working and living conditions, for example, are dealt with to ensure that temporary foreign workers cannot be treated inappropriately for fear of complaining about their jobs, they might lose their jobs. So they might be sent home in debt. There is a whole bunch of issues that are being dealt with here that for which this bill is trying to ensure safe conditions exist.

This bill will require recruiters and employers who seek out and hire temporary foreign workers. Registration. They will require them to register. By doing so, the government will be able to identify and respond to bad operators for the benefit of all stakeholders involved. In essence, this levels the playing field for both employers and recruiters by addressing the few bad operators out there who take advantage of temporary foreign workers and hence, reap the benefit.

When this first came in, I feared that this bill to establish the temporary foreign worker registry would have created an unfair burden for employers — the small employers, not so much the bigger employers, but the small employers — the employer who is perhaps a spouse who is looking for help for a caregiver for their ailing partner or a family who is looking for a caregiver for their child.

Small business. I was initially concerned that this might be regulatory red tape but oversight and costs. I was reassured after receiving a briefing from the ministry that this is, indeed, not the case. In fact, the fact that is free is not a financial burden, and the fact that it’s looking like it will be an online process that will take 15 minutes or so to fill out in terms of the registry. It seems to me that that is not onerous in light of the fact as an employer of a temporary foreign worker in a caregiver capacity you already have to register for a GIC number. You have to register with CPP and EI deductions, etc. So this is relatively pale in comparison to what already exists.

Overall, I am pleased with this legislation. Again, creating a safer environment and a safer experience for temporary foreign workers will have a net positive impact on B.C. I will also agree with the member for Chilliwack who spoke about some of the work that was done by the previous government in this area.

I remember very fondly working with the then-minister of, I guess it was Jobs, now the member for Prince George–Valemount, who together and collectively, we were able to introduce legislative change to no longer make it allowable for an employer in British Columbia to require an employee to wear high heels or footwear otherwise deemed to be unsafe.

In fact, I can tell you if you go to bars around this area you will find that most people are no longer wearing high heels. Very often, people come up and are very pleased by that legislation. Government listened, government responded, and now you’ve got soft flats happening in bars across British Columbia. That’s actually an important health and safety achievement that we’ve got here.

Finally, I’ll say that I do commend the minister for looking out for workers. But I hope the minister can also recognize that we have to look out for not only temporary foreign workers but our own workers in British Columbia. The fact that British Columbia is dragging its heels in terms of introducing legislation or introducing now order-in-council to actually address the presumptive clause for mental illness in a number of professions. Frankly, we could follow the lead of some provinces and actually assume a presumptive clause for all mental illness for all workers covered under the Workmen’s Compensation Board.

The reason being, of course, is if you have exposure to mental illness having to recant and retell your stories time and time again in order to prove that it is your workforce that actually is the result of or caused that mental illness, can be very onerous, and frankly, can be detrimental to the overall well-being and subsequent recovery of workers in B.C.

So I look forward to further efforts that the Minister of Labour will have in this regard in the weeks and months ahead

Video of Speech