April 2013
| Business World Magazine | 79
that program, making for an arduous waiting
game when it comes to bringing in foreign
workers.
In response to these issues, the CCA
has made submissions to Immigrations Can-
ada. Their goals are to change the points sys-
tem to make it more accessible for foreign
tradespeople, and if the lag in the system
is due to a lack of resources, they want the
government to commit more. “They need
to make sure we can build Canada’s future
workforce – not just for our industry but for
all the other industries in Canada that are
facing the same challenges we are,” Atkinson
says.
The other major facility by which
CCA’s members have been accessing foreign
workers is the Temporary Foreign Worker
Program – and that also has some shortcom-
ings the association would like to see ad-
dressed. At the moment, a Labour Market
Opinion (LMO) is a required precondition
to getting a temporary employee a VISA, and
they are only issued to single employers. In
construction, however, work can be seasonal
or the employers that will be hiring have to
first win competitive projects.
“In a particular region in the country
you know whoever wins that contract is go-
ing to need the additional labour, but 12 to
18 months out you’re not sure if it’s going to
be your firm,” Atkinson explains. “So we’ve
been pushing for changes to the Temporary
Foreign Worker Program that will allow
these labour market opinions to be issued to
more than one employer – let’s say to a group
of employers in the same region, or all the
competitors on a particularly large project
