Yes, 90% of the TFWs in our industry are in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
The majority would be in Alberta. Back in the mid-2000s, when the economy was booming in Alberta, our industry was in a crisis situation in that market, as was noted. Franchisees were throwing the keys back at franchisers saying that they couldn't do it: “no people; can't do it”. Parts of restaurant operations were being shut down and hours of service were being cut. There were huge lineups out the door, and people from the oil patch were coming in and recruiting people right from behind the counter at restaurants.
The situation was really critical. The temporary foreign worker program has become.... Well, I don't know what would have happened to our industry in that market at that time.
The other thing that happened as a result of the temporary foreign worker program is this. You have to understand that some restaurants are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you have to cover three shifts a day. If we could recruit 30% to 40% of our workers, then we still had to cover off the other hours. It was often the late hours—people had child care needs and transportation problems—and the temporary foreign worker program allowed us to make up that other 60% to 70%.
What happened was it really stabilized the operations. The managers in the operation were doing everything, working 16-hour days, cleaning toilets. They were not training. They were not managing. They were doing all the work of employees who should have been at the restaurant. Graduates from community college who they would bring in to manage the restaurants would quit on them after a short period, telling them they weren't hired to do all those jobs, but were hired to manage the restaurant. When they were able to bring in temporary foreign workers, they were able to stabilize their operations to a great extent.
The demands in Alberta have spread to Saskatchewan and have spread to Manitoba, and there are pockets in northern regions in every province in which there is a real, critical shortage of workers for our industry.