Foreign workers in Alta. face uncertain fate

by Barry Artiste | February 26, 2009 at 06:38 am

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Barry Artiste Op/Ed

Though I have always voiced on Now Public "Immediately stopping Immigration to Canada" during our worst economic times since the Dirty Thirties, You do not discard and deport those workers who immigrated here on good faith, who were law abiding, worked and contributed to Canada and now face employment uncertainty because of the Global Economy. You do not discard and deport those who are already here working. They have to be allowed to stay.

Currently our Government for some reason is looking at bringing 500,000 immigrants to Canada from other lands! Hello! what about the Friggin Immigrants we have here? What about them? You want them to Leave? Give your Head a Shake! They are already Here! Take care of them first!

What happens after when the economy gets back on track? Good luck trying to get these Immigrants to come back here, once bitten, twice shy. These Workers have Canadian Skills now, you don't throw that away!

My feelings I adhere to, are from an 3,000 year old adage, we should all live by "When in Rome...........you are Roman if you contribute to the Wealth and Health of Rome!" I put it this way, anyone living, working and contributing as law abiding citizens are Canadian! Period! Citizenship is only a paper document, these people are not! They are not disposable!

If they are to be deported, I say pay em off and pay em off good, regardless of their two year contract, cause we all know if the economy were gangbusters, they would have had their contracts renewed! I say if Canada wont let them stay, then pay em two years salary Tax Free and send em on their way, with our apologies and appreciation for their contributions.

I strongly believe stopping all immigration to Canada immediately until our economy improves, take care of us first! Somehow I think the immigrants who may face deportation while our Government brings in 500,000 through the back door will agree with me!

But then that is my opinion!

EDMONTON — The number of temporary foreign workers in Alberta doubled during the last two years of the boom to reach 57,843 — more than the population of Grande Prairie, Alta.

The new figures from Citizenship and Immigration show Alberta now has almost the same number of foreign workers as British Columbia, with 58,456 as of December 2008.

But as Canadian jobless figures rise, the fate of these workers in Alberta — mostly on two-year contracts in jobs ranging from engineers to welders and coffee-shop servers — is in question.

Even though Alberta shed 16,000 jobs in December and 5,700 in January, small businesses must continue to bring unskilled labour from overseas to staff hotels and restaurants because Canadians won’t take those jobs, says Danielle Smith, Alberta director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.