Canada's PM Justin Trudeau has tightened rules for hiring foreign temporary workers from 2025. He named it 'Canada First'. Trudeau said on social media on Thursday that companies must now prioritize Canadian citizenship in hiring.
Canadian companies now have to declare before hiring foreign temporary workers that they have not found an eligible Canadian citizen. Trudeau said the decision was “temporary” and was made to stem Canada's population growth.
According to reports, this decision of the Trudeau government may increase unemployment among tourists and youth. Indian students are working in shopping malls, food stores and restaurants. Canada had the highest number of Indian temporary workers in 2023. Out of a total of 1.83 lakh temporary employees, 27 thousand were Indians.
After the corona epidemic, the rules were changed to improve the economy
The Trudeau government made new rules in 2022 due to the labor shortage after the Corona epidemic. It was then named the Temporary Foreign Employee Program. In which non-Canadians were given relief from employment-related restrictions. Apart from this, his salary was also increased.
Indian students have benefited a lot from this move of the government. Students who went there started doing part time jobs apart from studies. According to a Forbes report, following the Trudeau government's decision, many Indian students opted for Canadian universities instead of taking admission in American universities. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, about 13,35,878 Indian students are studying abroad in 2024. Of these, Canada has the highest number of 4.27 lakh students.
Trudeau said that immigrants have made an important contribution to the recovery of our economy from the damage caused by the restrictions imposed during Corona, but now it is time to change this. Canada needs to stabilize its population.
Diana Velasco of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce expressed concern over the government's decision. Speaking to news agency Reuters, he said the country benefited from providing temporary jobs to foreign workers. We have managed to weather the post-corona recession, but the decisions we are taking now are sending the wrong message to the business community. If we want more foreign investment, we need more competent people.
Reduction in citizenship in Canada, this will affect Indians
Canada is also going to cut back on granting permanent citizenship to foreign nationals. Immigration Minister Mark Mill said on Thursday that a year ago we decided to grant citizenship to 5 lakh people in 2025 and 2026, but we have to change this. Canada's population growth is the highest among developed countries.
According to the National Statistics Agency, Canada's population will grow by 3.2%, or 1.3 million, from 2023 to 2024. This is the largest annual increase since 1957. 97% of Canada's population growth over the past year has been due to the granting of citizenship to immigrants.
According to Canada's 2021 census, 23% of the population was of foreign origin who later acquired Canadian citizenship. By 2021 most immigrants were from Asia and the Middle East. One in five immigrants to Canada is Indian.
Mill said- We will reduce the number of migrants coming to our country in the next 3 years. This will curb population growth in the next two years.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
