44th Parl. 1st Sess.
April 26, 2022 10:00AM
- Apr/26/22 7:07:47 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the safety and well-being of all workers, including temporary foreign workers, are of utmost importance to our government. As the member of Parliament for a region that hosts 10,000 temporary foreign workers each year, I can say emphatically that temporary foreign workers deserve to be safe. They deserve to be treated as any Canadian worker would expect to be treated.
When the pandemic hit, the Department of Employment and Social Development Canada, ESDC, quickly strengthened conditions for the temporary foreign worker program and introduced stronger penalties for employers who fail to comply. In fact, throughout the 2020 and 2021 seasons, ESDC hired more inspectors, enhanced its tip line service by including live agents, invested in migrant worker organizations to support vulnerable workers and worked closely with partners to keep workers safe.
Let us be clear. The government agrees with the Auditor General's recommendations and recognizes their seriousness. That is why we took steps to address the recommendations to improve the quality and timeliness of inspections, reduce backlogs and increase resources. ESDC is also continuing to expand its partnerships and work with employers to encourage compliance through education and awareness. We are already seeing the results, and they are overwhelmingly positive. Since July, we have seen a marked improvement in the quality of ESDC inspections and a significant reduction in the inventory of active inspections. These are important steps, but we know we have more work to do. That is why ESDC is rebuilding the TFW compliance regime. The Auditor General's recommendations are helping to guide that work.
While we recognize that the vast majority of employers care for the well-being of their workers, we also recognize that temporary foreign workers can face unique challenges. Given the question posed, let me very clear on the steps ESDC has been taking. We have ensured all staff responsible for inspections received supplementary training, which was completed last month. It implemented renewed guidance to ensure that if a worker's health and safety is at risk, necessary action is to be taken within 24 hours and no later than 48 hours, including the notification of appropriate stakeholders, authorities and jurisdictions. We developed a plan to target higher-risk areas, to reduce backlogs and ensure inspections are timely. We also reached 80% of inspections files without substantive errors by last month, March 2022, with progress in place to reach 90% by no later than September 2022.
We recognize the challenges temporary foreign workers face and have faced, especially during the pandemic. That is why the government has created special pathways to permanent residency so that eligible temporary foreign workers can remain in Canada for the long term. As I alluded to earlier, we have expanded relationships with key stakeholders, including federal, provincial and territorial partners, international law offices and employer groups, to help protect the health and safety of workers.
These working relationships are key to ensuring that the foreign workers so vital to our food supply will be welcomed into significantly safer working environments as we enter into the 2022 agricultural season.
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- Apr/26/22 7:12:32 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague for her excellent work on this incredibly important issue and file.
The government agrees with the Auditor General's recommendations. We are rebuilding the temporary foreign worker program compliance regime, and the Auditor General's recommendations are helping us to guide that work. We have already implemented improvements to ensure we can better support our inspection staff. These measures have improved the quality and timeliness of our inspections, and backlogs have been reduced.
We remain committed to protecting the health and safety of foreign workers. In the longer term, we know that improvements to foreign workers' living conditions are paramount. To achieve these necessary improvements and to meet the goals we have set, we are working diligently with stakeholders, including federal, provincial and territorial partners, international offices and employer groups, to provide safe environments for temporary foreign workers, especially in the agricultural sector.
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- Apr/26/22 7:17:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as the provinces and territories ease public health measures, we need to recognize that COVID-19 has not disappeared. COVID-19 continues to circulate in Canada, with hospitalization trends still elevated in some parts of the country.
Provincially and territorially, vaccine mandates were implemented in the summer and fall of 2021 for the federal public service, Crown corporations and federally regulated air, rail and marine transportation sectors to pursue key objectives, including to ensure the safety and security of the transportation system, passengers, transportation employees and the public, delivering immediate protection from infection and severity of illness in workplaces and for travellers; to increase uptake to provide broader societal protection, including within the federal public service; and to play a leadership role in protecting the health and safety of our workplaces, our communities and all Canadians.
Provincially, vaccine mandates were implemented across the country in the fall of 2021 to support higher levels of vaccination. At the time, uptake rates had plateaued, and a fourth wave was upon us.
Following mandatory vaccination, vaccination rates in Canada increased. This has contributed to the public health goal of minimizing serious illness and death overall.
This situation is not unique in Canada. A recent comparative study revealed that Denmark, Israel, Italy, France, Germany and Switzerland saw significant increases in vaccinations 20 days before mandates were implemented with lasting effects up to 40 days after. Eighty-five per cent of the eligible population in Canada has received two doses.
Studies have shown that vaccine effectiveness against the circulating variants omicron and BA.2 is lower than against previous variants. However, two doses continue to give good protection against severe disease, against omicron, but protection decreases after several months. Evidence indicates that a third or booster dose moderately increases protection against infection, to about 60%. It also increases protection against transmission and offers very good protection against severe disease, upward of 90%.
While the duration of protection from a booster or third dose varies and is expected to decrease over time, it is nonetheless important for Canadians to keep their vaccines up to date and get their booster shot when eligible. This will help them protect themselves and others.
When considering mandates, several factors should be considered, including the global and domestic epidemiological situation and the benefits and longer-term consequences of those measures. The Government of Canada COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the federal public service was implemented in October 2021 to help protect workers, their families and their communities. The mandate remains in place, and the government has committed to review the ongoing need for the policy based on evolving science and evidence and in the context of a multipronged approach to help protect Canadians against COVID-19.
Given the uncertainty and the ever-changing nature of the variants, as we learned from omicron and now its subvariants, an agile approach will be needed.
We continue to monitor the emerging evidence around vaccine effectiveness, and the spread and impact of COVID-19 in Canada, to inform our vaccination strategy for the coming weeks and months to ensure that we continue to protect the health and safety of Canadians. Vaccination is an important layer of protection that, when used with other measures such as masking, testing and distancing, can protect us from COVID-19.
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- Apr/26/22 7:22:30 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the Public Health Agency of Canada continues to examine vaccination strategies in the short and long term, including opportunities to build vaccine confidence and reduce barriers faced by individuals and communities across Canada. Canada has benefited significantly from COVID-19 vaccination efforts that include vaccine education, outreach and accessible programs with provinces, territories and indigenous partners. Vaccines, including boosters, will continue to be key to Canada's long-term recovery. They will be important to manage emerging variants, prevent severe illness and death, support our health systems and continue the path to living normal and full lives.
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