B.C. Premier David Eby at a news conference in Surrey on Sept. 4.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby is facing pushback after linking Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program to high youth unemployment and strains on social services, with New Democrats calling his remarks out of step with party values.
In response to a question about provincial belt-tightening at an unrelated news conference last week, Mr. Eby noted Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s call for Ottawa to axe the program and said it was a timely issue that should be considered.
The temporary foreign worker program is rife with abuse and should be cancelled or significantly reformed, Mr. Eby said. He also attributed B.C.’s “unacceptably high” level of youth unemployment to the program, along with the international student visa program, and credited Prime Minister Mark Carney for taking steps to rein in immigration.
B.C. is willing to convene provinces to have a “serious, grown-up conversation” about the impact of immigration in Canada, he said.
That conversation should include that “the majority of people using our food banks have been in Canada for less than two years, that our homeless shelters have new arrivals to Canada in them instead of people who have been living in our streets for a while, the fact that young people are facing challenges getting into the employment market,” Mr. Eby said.
Keller: Yes, Canada should (mostly) end our temporary foreign worker programs
The response to Mr. Eby’s comments was swift. Hermender Singh Kailley, secretary-treasurer at the BC Federation of Labour, said he was troubled to hear the Premier suggest that temporary foreign workers were taking up space in shelters and food banks.
“That kind of language unfairly blames workers for a housing and affordability crisis they did not create,” he wrote in a post to social media. “It paints racialized communities as a problem when the real issues are skyrocketing housing costs, underfunded public services, and a broken federal program that prioritizes cheap labour over fairness.”
Former NDP children’s minister Katrina Chen said she was “furious,” and said immigrants like her should not serve as scapegoats for flawed government policy. Mr. Eby’s remarks divide newcomers from Canadian citizens, she told The Globe and Mail.
“As someone who was a foreign worker and later became a Canadian, I hope for greater understanding among neighbours,” she said in an interview. “We all contribute to our diverse communities in different ways. I know many NDPers like me believe in building stronger, more caring communities for all. Divisions don’t help.”
Harry Bains, who served as minister of labour from 2017 to 2024, agreed with Mr. Eby’s remarks that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is flawed, noting that he heard many complaints about newcomers being abused and exploited during his time in cabinet.
However, they should not be blamed for unemployment, he said.
“Youth unemployment in B.C. is our issue, and it’s always been higher than the normal unemployment rate,” Mr. Bains said in an interview.
“We cannot blame the foreign worker, because we brought them in, because their employer made the case that we need them. We can’t find local people.”
Figures released by Statistics Canada this month show that B.C.’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate among people ages 15 to 24 was 16.6 per cent in May, up from 10.5 per cent a year earlier. Only Alberta recorded a higher unemployment rate for the age category, at 17.2 per cent.
Reached for comment, the Premier’s office pointed to additional remarks from Mr. Eby saying that B.C.’s strength is in its diversity, and that the immigration system needs to protect workers from abuse and exploitation.
Social-service providers told The Globe that newcomers make up a small share of shelter users, but a larger proportion of food bank clients.
First United reported that there is currently one immigrant staying in its Vancouver shelter, which is unusual, as there are usually none. Union Gospel Mission said it does not formally log this data, but that staff have reported it being less than 10 per cent based on informal conversations with clients.
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank’s 2024 report said that 35 per cent of people accessing their services that year said they did so because they had relocated internationally. Of new registrants so far this year, 61 per cent said they had been in Canada for two years or less.
The Surrey Food Bank said, on any given month, no less than 45 per cent of clients are refugees, immigrants or international students.
“The real issue here is not where people are from, but the systemic concerns around affordability and food security, and that is being felt across the province by many different demographics of people and many different backgrounds of people,” said Union Gospel Mission spokesperson Nicole Mucci.