Harper government spending taxpayer dollars to help corporations recruit TFWs in Europe, Africa

The Harper government is helping Canadian corporations hire temporary foreign workers by holding taxpayer funded recruitment fairs in Europe while partnering with African governments to bring migrant workers from that continent to Canada, according to documents obtained by a concerned citizen through access to information requests.

The “Destination Canada” recruitment fair organized by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to be held after the elections this year, and the African expansion of the TFW program has cost the taxpayers $1.2 million, the documents obtained by Kael Campbell of Victoria, BC show.

“Why are hundreds of thousands of dollars of tax payers’ money being spent providing year round free recruiting in Africa and Europe when government is scrapping Coast Guard bases in BC and we can’t rescue Atlantic fisherman whose boats are sinking?” Campbell wrote in a Facebook post that has since gone viral. “In 2015 Government Employees have spent tens of thousands on flights, hotels and for 5 days of promoting their program in Vancouver and Toronto to employers to partner with questionable foreign governments to hire Temporary Foreign Workers.”

“Despite serious corruption, low literacy rates and terrorist threats CIC want Canadian employers to partner year round with four governments in Africa to find TFWs,” Campbell added. “These governments include Ivory Coast, which has huge corruption issues and very low literacy rates. CIC is also telling employers to go to Tunisia where terrorist attacks on foreigners killed dozens in June 2015. With demand for TFW dropping from 200,000 to 40,000 and less this year, why are we so desperate to keep spending this money?”

The Destination Canada website claims that over 80 Canadian employers participated in the fair and recruited for over 1,200 jobs in 2014.