By Mata Press Service

Restaurants Canada is pressing provinces to opt into a new temporary foreign worker (TFW) measure, warning that rural eateries across the country are still waiting for relief from staff shortages that are forcing some to cut hours, scale back service or risk closure.

The industry group says Ottawa’s temporary increase to the cap on low-wage temporary foreign workers in rural regions could offer help to small-town food businesses struggling to find staff, but only if provincial and territorial governments formally request participation in the program.

While the federal change was announced on March 13 and took effect from April 1, many employers are still waiting to hear whether their provinces will sign on.

“Restaurants Canada is asking provincial governments across the country to support rural restaurants and communities by opting into this temporary TFW cap increase,” Kelly Higginson, president and chief executive officer of Restaurants Canada, said in a statement.

“We need long-term workforce solutions that include investments in youth training, technology and immigration with a path to permanent residency, but in the meantime, restaurants need workers now.”

At issue is a targeted federal measure aimed at rural regions facing severe labour shortages. Employment and Social Development Canada said eligible employers in those areas could temporarily raise the share of low-wage temporary foreign workers in their workforce to 15 per cent from 10 per cent.

The measure will remain in place until March 31, 2027, but only in provinces or territories that request the exemption for priority sectors in qualified regions.

For Restaurants Canada, that means the next move belongs to the provinces.

The association argues that the federal announcement is significant because it breaks from Ottawa’s recent efforts to tighten the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. Over the past two years, the federal government has moved to curb employer reliance on temporary foreign labour by reducing caps, shortening permit durations and refusing to process some low-wage applications in metropolitan areas with higher unemployment.

The rural exemption creates a narrow opening for communities that Ottawa says continue to face persistent labour shortages despite broader weakness in the national job market.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said the change is meant to address “urgent workforce gaps” while ensuring Canadians remain first in line for available jobs.

Buckley Belanger, the secretary of state for rural development, said labour conditions in rural Canada cannot be treated the same way as those in large urban centres, where labour pools are larger and worker mobility is greater.

Restaurants Canada says those regional realities are especially stark in foodservice.

The association says temporary foreign workers make up just three per cent of the industry’s workforce nationally, but they often fill critical vacancies in communities with aging populations, declining youth participation and shrinking local labour pools. In many rural and tourism-dependent regions, restaurants need workers for skilled positions such as chefs and cooks, or for shifts that are hard to fill locally, including overnights.

When those jobs remain vacant, operators are often left with few options beyond cutting operating hours, reducing service or closing altogether.

“In some rural communities, restaurants may be the only source of local employment for youth,” Higginson said. “They are community gathering spaces, places for travelers and locals to have a meal. Losing a restaurant in these communities is devastating.”

The group says the industry’s labour pressures remain severe even after a period of strong wage growth. Restaurants Canada says foodservice has seen the second-highest wage growth of any industry since 2021, yet there are still 70,000 vacant foodservice jobs across the country. The sector employs more than 1.2 million people, with youth making up 39 per cent of the workforce, and serves more than 23 million customers each day.

In a related opinion piece, Higginson argued that the debate around temporary foreign workers often misses the reality on the ground in smaller communities. She wrote that restaurants do far more than serve meals, supporting tourism, anchoring main streets and buying billions of dollars in local food and beverage products each year.

She also argued that hiring through the TFW program is not a cheap or easy shortcut, but a costly and tightly regulated last resort that requires employers to prove they could not hire locally and to pay at or above the government-set median wage for the role and region.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce welcomed the federal relaxation on TFWs as recognition that labour shortages vary across the country. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has similarly argued that many small businesses rely on foreign workers out of necessity, not convenience, and has warned that skilled labour shortages remain a major constraint on growth.

Canada’s Restaurant Sector by the Numbers

1.2 million people employed in Canada’s foodservice industry

39% of the workforce is made up of youth, or roughly nearly 500,000 young workers

More than 23 million visitors are served every day

70,000 foodservice jobs are vacant across the country

$125 billion industry by annual economic size

No. 1 source of first-time jobs in Canada

Canada’s fourth-largest employer, and the third largest in some provinces

About two-fifths of the industry’s workforce is youth

Temporary foreign workers make up just 3% of the restaurant workforce nationally

The federal rural measure would raise the low-wage TFW cap to 15% from 10% in eligible regions, if provinces opt in.