A Report of the Office of the Auditor General (Report) regarding
an audit of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP)
has found that while Employment and Social Development Canada
(ESDC) has successfully reduced the number of Temporary Foreign
Workers (TFWs) since 2013, ESDC had been relatively lax in its
review of the market needs for TFWs and in conducting enforcement
and compliance reviews of employers. In response, ESDC has
undertaken to make changes to the TFWP and improve oversight.
Employers that use the TFWP have experienced an increase in
enforcement and compliance activities as a result.
Report Findings
ESDC is tasked with vetting applications made by employers to
hire TFWs, assessing the labour impact of hiring TFWs, ensuring
program compliance of employers, and measuring and reporting
program results. The audit looked into each of these functions and
made the following findings: