Dramatic increase of foreign workers in Alta

The number of workers being brought into Alberta under the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program continues to spiral upward, according to figures quietly posted on the federal government’s Citizenship and Immigration website late last week.

In 2006, Alberta became the first province in Canada to bring more workers into the country under the TFW program than under the mainline immigration program. In 2007, that troubling trend accelerated with the number of TFWs growing to nearly double the number of new immigrants coming to the province.

Official figures show that, as of Dec. 1, 2007, there were 37,257 temporary foreign workers in Alberta. That’s up from 22,105 in 2006,15,836 in 2005 and a mere 7,288 in 1997.

To put it another way: There are now more than twice as many TFWs in Alberta today than there were two years ago and more than five times as many as a decade ago. While Ontario and B.C. are still home to more TFWs (82,873 and 43,375 in 2007 respectively), no other province has experienced as dramatic an increase as Alberta.

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Dramatic increase of foreign workers in Alta
Airdrie - Ehco