On August 18, the federal government issued a new law banning foreign workers who have worked in Canada for 4 years from receiving another work permit for 4 years. This law was issued without a vote in Parliament because it was a change to the regulations.
The government has justified this law on the basis of a simplistic "Cost-benefit analysis". See http://canadagazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2010/2010-08-18/pdf/g2-14417.pdf. In essence, here's what the government is saying: Temporary Foreign Workers bring in money because of their labour and the taxes that they pay. However, we don't want them to feel like they should be able to stay because we call them "temporary workers". So now, they really are going to be "temporary workers" because we're going to make sure they can't stay (especially the "low-skilled workers") by banning them from working in Canada after they've worked for 4 years.
This reflects an underlying ideological elitism that is disturbing to the core.
Whether or not we want workers to stay here permanently or temporarily should depend on:
1. Whether or not the workers want to remain in Canada on a permanent basis and become a member of our communities and our country;
2. Whether or not their current or potential employers need them to work for the long term; and
3. Whether or not their presence will add to the socio-economic fabric of Canada.
None of these factors justify limiting the time that workers can remain in Canada to work. It is not beneficial to the workers, the employers, or Canada to ban them from Canada after 4 years. The only reason for the government to do so would be to try to stop "low-skilled" workers from making Canada their home. Some cost-benefit analysis!
