Roundup: Capping temporary foreign workers

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Yesterday, ministers Marc Miller and Randy Boissonnault announced that the federal government will be setting a “soft cap” on temporary foreign workers as part of immigration levels coming this fall, with an eye to reducing the number who arrive in Canada. Part of this is justified by the fact that the pandemic labour shortages have started to subside, and there isn’t the same need for as many, particularly in low-wage sectors where the valid criticism is that access to these workers keeps wages artificially low, though we have seen a great deal of wage growth over the past two years as part of the labour shortages and rising inflation, and wage growth has been outpacing headline inflation for a while now (which lends to fears of a wage-price spiral if wage growth doesn’t start moderating).

Mike Moffatt has some context for what the government announced, which is going to combine with the caps on foreign students.

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1770916193894891796

https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/1770917112007000102

On that note, The Logic takes a look at how those public-private partnership colleges are going to have to deal with the new federal rules around capped numbers, after they learned to exploit the old system, which was treated very much as a loophole by those students who knew they weren’t getting much of an education but were rather trying to get a foothold in Canada so they could get some work experience that would allow them apply for permanent residency—something else that the re-imposition of the caps on hours worked for international students is going to have even more of an impact on.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia launched its largest missile barrage against Kyiv in weeks, and while all of the missiles were shot down, there was still damage and injuries from the debris. As well, missile strikes damaged power supplies in Kharkiv, and a missile strike in Mykolaiv in the south killed one and injured four. Three Ukrainian-backed Russian rebel groups say they are continuing cross-border attacks following weeks of raids. Ukrainian women are talking about beatings they received at the hands of Russians during the occupation of their homes.

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1770729801940123891

Good reads:

  • Surprising nobody, the Conservatives’’ non-confidence motion went down to defeat, but Poilievre couldn’t be bothered to be there to vote in person.
  • Immigration officials say that Palestinian Canadians who fled Gaza before completing the application for family members won’t be eligible in the programme.
  • Bill Blair tabled a bill to formally remove the military’s ability to investigate and prosecute sexual offences as part of the military justice system.
  • Moving the planned federal election date one week to avoid Diwali means more MPs (mostly Conservatives) will pass their six years to meet pension eligibility.
  • A Public Service Commission data transfer issue with veterans’ files meant that many were not able to apply for positions they should have been given priority for.
  • An expert panel report is recommending 54 changes to the cannabis regulation system including changes to taxes related to the amount of THC in products.
  • NSIRA is calling on military counter-intelligence to halt warrantless searches of workplace computers because of the reasonable expectation of privacy.
  • The international Commission on Missing Persons released their interim report on finding the unmarked graves at former residential school sites across Canada.
  • A Canadian Climate Institute report says that the industrial carbon price has been more effective at reducing emissions than the commercial levy, but both are needed.
  • France’s senate rejected ratification of the Canada-EU Trade agreement, citing farmers’ concerns about “unfair competition” from abroad.
  • Steven Guilbeault was hauled to committee to say that yes, there is still money to build roads (but that didn’t stop the conspiracy theories).
  • While Pierre Poilievre has been cosplaying class warrior and railing about “corporate lobbyists,” his chief advisory opened up a second lobbying firm.
  • Ontario is planning to give wildland firefighters a $5000 bonus to keep them on the job ahead of wildfire season, but their union says it’s just a drop in the bucket.
  • Ontario and the federal government may have reached a settlement around the federal impact assessment on Ford’s planned Highway 413 project.
  • Justin Ling, writing from an air shelter in Kyiv, highlights Ukraine’s military innovation, particularly with drones, as they await more Western support.
  • Colby Cosh makes the case that photo editors have a lot more power than we give them credit for when it comes to shaping perceptions.

Odds and Ends:

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