Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre has said that he’d end the temporary foreign workers program, with no new visas issued. Agriculture exemptions have been promised, with a standalone program for “genuinely hard-to-fill” agricultural jobs remaining.

The Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program (SAWP) has been in place since the 1970s, and Niagara’s agri-food sector – one of the largest in the country – depends heavily upon it, including the wine industry, grape growers, tender fruit, and greenhouses. Our tourism sector also uses many temporary foreign workers for jobs that Canadians do not apply for. Axing the program would have a devastating effect on both industries.

There are over 4,000 temporary foreign workers in Niagara. Most of them are in the agricultural, food processing, and hospitality/tourism industries and sectors, all of which face labour shortages.

Isolated stories of companies taking unfair advantage of the program are widespread, but according to the government’s own audits, 94% of inspected companies were compliant – and for those who weren’t, the majority were only non-compliant due to a paperwork error.

1. Strengthen compliance using existing enforcement tools to protect workers and ensure a level playing field for employers.
2. Conduct a full, evidence-based review before any major policy changes, and institute regular, data-driven program reviews that track labour shortages, compliance, worker outcomes, and local economic impacts.
3. Utilize incentives for research, innovation, and technology adoption that reduce reliance on low-skilled, low-wage manual labour to address the productivity issue in Canada.
4. Support youth employment through local career pathways and post-secondary partnerships, including soft-skills development, apprenticeships, co-ops, and micro-credentials, to build domestic talent alongside essential temporary foreign labour without aiming to replace one with the other.

2025-ongoing