Banff’s tourism industry continued to struggle with a chronic labour shortage over the summer and into fall, despite significant recruitment efforts and unprecedented unemployment in Alberta.
That’s why recent recommendations of a parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing Canada’s controversial temporary foreign worker program (TFW) are mostly welcome news to the Banff and Lake Louise hospitality industry.
The House of Commons human resources committee has made 21 recommendations to the government for program reforms, including simpler ways for businesses to respond to labour market needs and to make it easier for foreign workers to become permanent residents.
Officials with the local tourism industry say they are pleased with many recommendations, including a call for a trusted employer stream that would expedite applications for businesses with a good track record with temporary foreign workers.
“We think it’s an incredibly positive report, and of the 21 recommendations, I would suggest 85 to 90 per cent are in line with what the business community has been looking for,” said Darren Reeder, executive director of Banff Lake Louise Hospitality Association (BLLHA).
“I don’t think there’s anything in there that I would consider completely unworkable, but the devil’s in the details as we move forward, of course, and we’re waiting to see how the government actually digests this report.”
Banff and Lake Louise again experienced a chronic labour shortage this summer, particularly in the accommodation and food and beverage sector jobs, such as hotel room cleaners, servers, line cooks and kitchen helpers.
Over the course of the summer, the deficit for those positions was anywhere from 217 to more than 328 a month, with human resources departments barely able to keep up with staff turnover.
BLLHA launched a massive recruitment campaign, including increased advertising in Calgary, recruitment at post secondary institutions, job-share partnerships with downtown Calgary hotels and creation of an Indigenous labour task force with Stoney First Nations.
Reeder said with all these recruiting efforts it was predicted the area would reduce its labour shortage of hotel room cleaners, cooks, servers and kitchen helpers over the peak summer months by 10 to 15 per cent.
But, he said, despite those recruitment efforts, and the fact Alberta has the highest unemployment rate in more than 20 years, the tourism industry has been unable to close the labour deficit.
“Even with those efforts, we’re basically flat, or slightly higher in that labour shortage. It confirms why we need a temporary foreign worker program,” he said.
“In the months of July and August we would cycle through as many as four people to get one FTE equivalent in the space of a month.”
Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen hopes the House of Commons committee’s proposed changes to the temporary foreign worker program benefit Banff businesses in dealing with the ongoing labour shortage.
“As I understand it, the labour shortage throughout this very busy season has been a challenge for our businesses, and moving into fall that has escalated,” she said.
“With changes to the temporary foreign worker program in 2014, I feel we’ve taken three steps backwards in terms of managing our employee needs in the community.”
In most cases, a Canadian employer wishing to hire a foreign worker must first receive government approval before the hiring can take place. These days, this comes in the form of a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) and must prove a need.
The program was first created in 1973 to allow employers to hire foreign nationals to fill gaps in their workforces on a temporary basis. The program has grown and been updated over the years to respond to Canadian labour market conditions.
However, employers and TFW have expressed long-standing concerns over various aspects of the program, including abuse of workers, leading to reforms by the former Conservative government in 2014 aimed at limiting the reliance of employers on temporary foreign workers.
The new Liberal government tasked the committee with reviewing the program, and last week promised to respond to the committee’s recommendations within the legislated timeframe of 120 days.
One of the parliamentary committee’s most welcome recommendations is the call for a trusted employer stream that would grant expedited access to businesses that have a good record with temporary foreign workers.
Reeder said Banff and Lake Louise are able to meet that criteria, noting BLLHA would like to see that committee recommendation go one step further and be applied to a “trusted destination.”
“That might be something that is unique to a place like a Banff, a bona fide resort destination,” he said.
“With the strength of labour data and the reporting system we have with our members – we really act on behalf of the employer collective – we think it’s an incredibly workable solution.”
The committee also calls on Employment and Social Development Canada to take immediate steps to improve the collection of labour market data and review geographic zones used for determining unemployment rates.
Currently, LMIAs with respect to certain low-wage positions in regions with a six per cent or higher unemployment rate will not be processed. For example, Banff and Lake Louise are grouped with Peace River, Rocky Mountain House and Grande Prairie.
Reeder said the Bow Valley has a labour shortage, not high unemployment like some of those other areas in the same geographic zone.
“It is difficult for our members to prove that need for labour when government officials were looking at data for the region and suggesting you’re ineligible because your unemployment rate is greater than six per cent,” Reeder said.
“In reality, it’s not even close to that here. We’re saying if there’s a proven need don’t make this an arduous process.”
Another recommendation would see the program allow minor modifications to contracts between employers and employees with regards to the nature of the work and increases in wages if both parties consent.
Reeder said that would allow some flexibility for individuals to move within like-minded positions, noting businesses wouldn’t have to go through another new and lengthy application process.
“We’ve had general managers have to move from doing their jobs into housing keeping and serving tables, and if they weren’t able to do that, we would have had operations that had to significantly reduce their hours of operations this summer,” he said.
“We think on a front line workforce level, if we can again show the desperation of the industry in certain occupations that really share some characteristics, then it’s really reasonable to better support individuals and earning potential to move amongst like minded positions.”
