What to know
- Restaurants Canada is urging provinces to opt into a temporary increase to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) cap in rural areas, raising it from 10 per cent to 15 per cent to help address severe labour shortages.
- The restaurant industry is facing about 70,000 job vacancies nationwide, with rural areas hit hardest due to ageing populations and youth moving to urban centres.
- The higher cap would allow restaurants to fill critical roles like cooks and overnight staff, helping prevent reduced hours or closures.
- While the increase is helpful, Restaurants Canada says more support is needed, including faster pathways for foreign workers and a dedicated rural labour stream.
Restaurants Canada is urging provinces to activate a temporary increase in Temporary Foreign Workers (TFW) in rural areas amid growing labour challenges in the industry.
As of April 1, changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program will allow employers in rural areas of participating provinces and territories to benefit from a 15 per cent cap, up from the usual 10 per cent, on the proportion of temporary foreign workers in low-wage positions.
The temporary measure will end on March 31, 2027. Until then, provinces and territories are required to submit a formal request to the federal government to implement the increase in eligible regions before employers can apply.
Restaurants Canada Vice-President Federal Affairs Matt Triemstra tells Now Toronto that it is crucial provinces and territories submit these requests, as the restaurant industry faces 70,000 vacancies across the country, most of them in rural areas.
“There just isn’t a sufficient local labour supply of workers to operate a local restaurant,” he said.
Triemstra says there are two main factors driving the issue: ageing population and youth moving to urban centres for school or work.
He adds that restaurants, in particular, need workers with specialized training, such as chefs and cooks, or people who can work overnight shifts. When those roles go unfilled, businesses may be forced to drop shifts, cut hours, or even close entirely.
While many may see youth as the obvious alternative to fill positions, he says the solution isn’t that simple.
“We, of course, employ a large number of youth, I think 480,000 youth work in our industry, but sometimes the youth can’t do overnight shifts, or they’re not trained cooks. When we use the temporary foreign worker program, it’s really to tap into that specialised talent,” he said.
Triemstra says that so far, Nova Scotia is the only province to formally say “yes” to the increase while Quebec has declined.
He adds that although the increase is only to 15 per cent, it can still make a meaningful difference in day-to-day operations.
“If you are a restaurant operator in a rural area, and you’ve got staff of 20, 10 per cent would be two people, 15 per cent is three, and hiring a third cook or a third person can have a really significant impact,” he said.
While Triemstra says the increase is a step in the right direction, he notes that more support is still needed for rural areas. This includes a dedicated rural and tourism stream to provide quicker and more flexible access to international labour, as well as fast-tracking permanent residency applications for foreign workers already in Canada.
While he hopes all provinces will soon get on board, Triemstra emphasizes that operators do want to hire locally whenever possible.
“Hiring a temporary foreign worker is actually more expensive, there’s more administration, there’s more responsibility, so it’s never the preferred outcome. But the bottom line is that rural restaurants are experiencing severe labour shortages, and we need workers now,” he said.
