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British Columbia Premier David Eby is doubling down on his criticism of the temporary foreign worker program, calling out a Vancouver Starbucks and a Boston Pizza outlet in Richmond, B.C., for seeking to use the scheme to hire managers.
But Eby’s criticism of the program, which he says needs to be shut down or significantly reformed, comes as federal data show approvals under the scheme have fallen almost twice as fast in B.C. as the rest of Canada.
The data show that in the first three months of 2025, there were about 11,000 temporary foreign worker positions approved in B.C., down about 37 per cent from the same period last year, while the rest of Canada has seen a 20.5 per cent decline since the federal government tightened access to the scheme last September.
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Employers who want temporary foreign workers must receive a positive labour market impact assessment, and the government data show there were more than 51,000 positions approved nationally in the first quarter of this year.
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Eby calls on Ottawa to scrap temporary foreign workers program
Both Eby and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre suggested shutting the program last week, and on Tuesday Eby told the Burnaby Board of Trade about applications by the Starbucks and Boston Pizza outlets.
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He says in a clip of the speech he posted to social media that he doesn’t believe those outlets can’t “find a British Columbian on their team to promote to manager.”
The Richmond Boston Pizza restaurant did not return a call requesting comment, while Starbucks’ Canadian headquarters said Eby was referring to a café owned by Sheraton, and no one answered a call to the outlet in the Sheraton Wall Centre.
Eby’s remarks about the temporary foreign worker program last week were criticized by former NDP cabinet minister Katrina Chen, who said she was “furious” about them.
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The premier said at the time that B.C. “can’t have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks” and “results in high unemployment.”
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