MP questions restaurants Canada consultations on labour shortages, foreign workers

Temporary foreign workers are back at the center of the fight over who gets restaurant jobs, who gets more hours and whether operators should raise pay to fill shifts already available in Canada. Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner questioned federal officials about consultations with Restaurants Canada and temporary foreign worker lobbyists, a dispute that lands directly on the backs of cooks, servers, bartenders and hosts trying to hold onto hours in a tight labour market.

Restaurants Canada argues the sector cannot keep running without foreign labour. The association says restaurants generate 4% of Canada’s GDP, half of Canadian restaurants are run by immigrants and foodservice vacancies are headed past 105,000 by 2030. It says the hardest roles to fill are cooks, chefs and workers needed to keep operations going around the clock, especially in mid-size cities, rural Canada, remote communities and tourism areas where a short staff can mean shorter hours, fewer tables and, in some cases, a shutdown.

Ottawa has been moving to make employers prove more before they bring in low-wage workers from abroad. As of April 1, 2026, employers submitting a Labour Market Impact Assessment for low-wage positions had to advertise the job offer for at least eight consecutive weeks in the previous three months. The federal government also said some rural employers in participating provinces and territories became eligible for temporary measures on the share of low-wage temporary foreign workers they can hire, but only if they met all Temporary Foreign Worker Program requirements, including showing efforts to first hire Canadians and permanent residents.

The broader immigration plan adds another layer of pressure. In its 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, the Government of Canada set targets for 385,000 new temporary resident arrivals in 2026 and 370,000 in 2027 and 2028, while also saying it would accelerate the transition of up to 33,000 temporary workers to permanent residency in 2026 and 2027. Ottawa has said it wants the temporary resident population to fall below 5% of Canada’s total population by the end of 2027, a signal that the policy debate is not only about restaurant staffing but about shrinking the pool of workers employers have relied on.

Rempel Garner has separately pushed to end the Temporary Foreign Worker Program altogether, casting it as a response to youth unemployment and labour-market distortions. Restaurants Canada has countered that temporary foreign workers make up only 3% of the foodservice workforce, a small share in its view but one it says is critical when local hiring falls short. For restaurant workers, the result could decide whether employers compete harder on wages and schedules, or keep leaning on a system that helps keep the doors open.