Evidence of meeting #76 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.
A video is available from Parliament.
October 17th, 2017 / 8:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all for being here.
I think in the last two years I've gone to all the Atlantic provinces. I've probably been to your restaurants as well.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
I can tell you that when I was in St. Anthony in June and I went to the Tim Hortons, I was quite surprised at the staff. I talked to them, and they were temporary foreign workers from different parts of the world.
I'm very curious in terms of what you said now with respect to processing. Have you had anyone come through the pilot to work at any of your restaurants?
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
No. I have 16 people in process. It's not difficult to find candidates.
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
It's very difficult for them to meet all the pieces that are required for them to even get endorsed.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Okay.
You said you had about 50 people who came through as temporary foreign workers.
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
Yes, and 30 of them, with their permanent residency, are still working with us today.
Liberal
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
No, there are no mobility restrictions at all.
Liberal
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
Some of them went home at the end of their work contracts and work permits. Others moved to different areas of the country, and some moved locally. Others would end up in Vancouver or Toronto.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
From a retention perspective, that's pretty decent.
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
Yes, I'm proud of that number. I think if we create an environment, and we work hard to do that, then it works well for everyone.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Right.
Mr. Erjavec, maybe you could give us a sense of the other regions. Have you had any experience with the pilot project? Have you had any members who were successful?
Vice-President, Atlantic Canada, Restaurants Canada
I've been speaking to most of the provincial governments on this. We have a tight working relationship and we have lots of designated employers, lots of candidates. In most provinces, we're the number one or two industry being endorsed as an industry.
Some have gone through, but it's a relative handful. It's complicated when you have two levels of government, a third-party agency, plus third-party certifiers. To get them all together, to make them all click, it's just months and months. An operator who's just trying to keep his doors open and run a business gets frustrated and just gives up.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Many of the restaurants are seasonal in Atlantic Canada, are they?
Chairman of the Board, Restaurants Canada
Mine are all full-time, year-round. Everything changed under the new program from what we were familiar with under the old program. At first I thought it was a learning curve. For example, in one of my first applications, within the space of three days I was told three different ways by three different people what the next step was and where I should apply for the work permit. The border agents would not process, which typically could happen if someone was in Canada, so that couldn't happen. The next time I was told to send it to Vegreville. After that, I was told to send it to New York. This person didn't have the timeline with their passport and could not be processed in New York, so they had to go back to the country of origin to apply at the embassy.
That's just the complexity of the program.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Thank you very much for that feedback.
Ms. Coulombe, I'm quite amazed at your efforts. It seems quite impressive. I do recall reading about this several weeks ago. Can you tell us what your reaction was when you received 300 applications, or when 300 people expressed interest? What kinds of questions did they pose to you? Did they actually know about Cape Breton, or was it just a random thing they came across on the web?
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Yes, I'm sorry. That's what I meant: 300,000.
Owner, Farmer's Daughter Country Market
It's still climbing every day, and it's been a year.
If you see our posts, we highlighted them with a lot of pictures of Cape Breton, and we talked about the lifestyle we live here. So many people have put a huge effort into their applications to come, with pictures, long write-ups, and videos. It's pretty incredible. With a lot of them, it's been about the lifestyle here that they are looking for.
My biggest thing is my bakery and my food service business. I did hire two people from B.C. who actually were in the food service industry prior. Those were the two who didn't end up working out and who left on me. The ones who have worked for me are people with a bit of a higher education who have come here for the lifestyle and are very happy and have never baked, made a sandwich, or grilled, but they're doing it for me now.
So looking at the program of immigration, me hiring people in maybe food service is not the right fit for my area; it's the people who want the lifestyle I can offer.
