Originally Posted by Ontheroadoflife

In that case, be surprised if they didn't cut down the number of Visas issued, The calgary Sun was going on about only so many Canadians go to the UK under the IEC equivalent, and double (or something of that effect, quoting a very old article and senility is growing) come to Canada.

Originally Posted by Ontheroadoflife

Got to agree, the IEC is even more unfair to Canadians than TWP, because of no assessments of any description on the impact of that job being lost to the Canadian job market, be very surprised if it survives as it is, now that TWP is dealt with.

My money is on it becoming a non-renewable 1 year visa, with some sort of gap (maybe a year?) in applications.

Originally Posted by SchnookoLoly

Already done that from the looks of things.

Previous years the cap was jsut under 6000. It looks like this year is ending at 5000. There has been talk of it being culled further next year.

In this year's rounds, Round 1 went in 12 minutes, 2500 spots.

Round 2 went in 2 minutes, another 2500 spots.

1000 people are waitlisted.

Originally Posted by Ontheroadoflife

Unfortunately your post is very vague, of the "someone told me down the pub" sort, thats why I'm asking for examples. If you could show that specific hotels have gone to source staff without fully investigating local resources first, and didn't go TWP as the very, very last resort (rather than first choice). Then fine (unless of course those staff are not low skilled and are in fact qualified chefs etc (which are in short supply in general) and name specific hotels that have been using these practices without documented proof they have tried all other avenues to get staff, then I assure you ESDC and CIC will revoke every work permit and ban the employers from ever using TWP again. I'm sure someone would have dropped a dime on any employer in this situation already however, especially with the excellent cultural centre for First Nations run jointly by all 3 bands right in the middle of Whistler, i have had fascinating conversations with the staff and volunteers and they would not take this sort of abuse lying down and indeed are very proactive for opportunities for employment for First Nations. (If you get the chance anyone, visit, truly exceptional).

The reason I highlighted your opening line is that a TWP must have a job and be paid EVERY Week of that work permit for either 30 or 35 or 40 hours, not just at busy times, this again would be another reason why TWP would not be attractive to those hotels (why pay 40 chambermaids when you need 5 for example), they would need to pay them when not needed, whereas IEC work only when needed, with no wage guarantees. Also those permits would not be issued unless the wage is exact same as any Canadian employed in the same role, so paying them less is a non-starter...so this is not an issue of exploitation for cheap labour.

I feel you should remember that students get an open work permit and the right to work 40 hours when out of term, with Vancouver and it's educational establishments so close, well a live-in job as a waiter or Chamber Person (just when needed by the hotel in the winter) is rather attractive.

The only reason I can honestly see that any hotel in Whistler could justify TWP would be as you said, no local can afford to live in the town on that wage, but they (the hotel) have no choice, they need the labour..but thats hardly the hotels fault..are they to pay way over the going rate for the job because Whistler is a tourist trap and the local Council will not even consider low cost housing..this is an issue of local Government and it's citizens need to address this surely? Blame the highway to the sky and how close Vancouver is and how commutable those towns are now...If I worked in Vancouver I would kill to live there....very difficult to keep your eyes on the road and not on the bay..breathtaking.

If the issue is salary in the area then candidly this needs to be taken up with your local MP to get minimum wage levels increased to reflect Whistlers unique position. I would hope someone would exercise their rights to do so as a Citizen.

I was under the impression that Whistler Transit ran an exceptional service for the size of the community and those buses did indeed run to the local towns outside? If I'm wrong I apologise, it seemed like every second bus ran down the hill. If they don't then again i would hope the Citizens would get the MP involved to get that changed, pointing out it opens those Whistler jobs up to those towns inhabitants.

I also took the liberty of doing a job search for Whistler, not one LMIA eligible post is advertised in the town, in any trade.

In fact in all of BC right now there are 21 LMIA eligible posts advertised by indeed.com

The only employer I could see admitting to using TWP and being affected in Whistler was a japanese restaurant on a business BC forum who imported chefs from Japan, interestingly they are quoted as saying now they have been refused LMIA they will just give the chefs permanent job offers under EE rather than Temporary workers status...throwing baby out with the bathwater springs to mind.

Originally Posted by Ontheroadoflife

In that case, be surprised if they didn't cut down the number of Visas issued or make it un-renewable (once it expires..thats your lot),

Originally Posted by christmasoompa

See Schnooks post above, it already is 'un-renewable'. It's a once in a lifetime visa, you can't renew it, extend it, or get another one

.And Canadians generally use about 4500 of their allocated 5000 visas each year, so the UK is a long way off double that (5350 in 2014)

Originally Posted by SchnookoLoly

Already done that from the looks of things.

Previous years the cap was jsut under 6000. It looks like this year is ending at 5000. There has been talk of it being culled further next year.

In this year's rounds, Round 1 went in 12 minutes, 2500 spots.

Round 2 went in 2 minutes, another 2500 spots.

1000 people are waitlisted.

Originally Posted by beckiwoo

It was 5,300 last year so it was cut by 300 this year. The French quota got cut as well.

All countries (32 in total) have quotas except Australia but maybe that will change next year if they are dead set on sorting the IEC out.

Originally Posted by dishwashing

I see both sides to this argument, but nevertheless I want to thank Neil and Ontheroadoflife for their empathy. Sure, once "we" are "in" we should care about "our" country, but if we on the other side of the fence...Anyway thanks guys.

Originally Posted by Jsmth321

Go to Whistler, not hard to spot temp foreign workers, they are too old to be on IEC and they are not here permanently. It's not as if all the McD's and Tims on the news last year for using temp workers are anymore skilled.

You keep bringing up First Nations, Squamish is surrounded by First Nations too, but you see very few working in town, and almost none in low skilled jobs like fast food or housekeeping in hotels, or retail or pretty much anywhere. Same in Whistler, I never see First Nations anywhere working around the town.

I could be getting the terminology wrong as to what the temp workers visa are called, but unless you can explain the large numbers of Filipino's working in such jobs as housekeeping, and such, they are clearly not here on an IEC.

There was a whole hoopla for months last year over it, and the government changed the program. Mcd's, Tims all made the news for abusing the system.
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Whistler transit doesn't go to Squamish the largest town in the region and where a good amount of the commuters come from for work. It does offer some service to Pemberton, but it's not a large town at all.

Other then Pemberton, Whistler transit does not leave Whistler. Up until 2011 Squamish transit did have a commuter bus to Whistler funded by Squamish, Whistler, and the provincial government.

But Whistler and the province pulled funding, so the service despite being well used, had to stop.

The province is always reducing or not funding transit properly to maintain service, let alone increase it.

Whistler has the benefit of massive amounts of paid parking fees going to their system, so they don't rely on the province as heavily.


And yes if the wage being offered is too low for people to afford housing, then the company needs to increase the wages to the point they can attract employees. This is about paying as little as possible. If a job that pays 12/hr in Vancouver can't attract employees in Whistler and the wage needs to be say 20/hr then so be it, part of doing business in a high cost region.

I have no sympathy for these hotels, they make massive amounts of money from their hugely inflated rates compared to the same type of hotel in a normal city, they choose to do business there, so they need to pay the wages needed to attract employees and that will require paying more then the 12-14/hr they want to pay.

If a company is underpaying for the region and they cry "we can't find employees" the fault is 100% on the company for not offering a high enough wage for the region.

Its highly doubtful the MP or MLA for this region will care about the small towns in the riding, we share the MP or MLA with West Vancouver and well obviously small towns can't compete with the wealth of the folks in West Vancouver.

Would be nice if we could have our own MP and MLA for this riding, being represented by a city MP or MLA doesn't benefit small towns.

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

I believe that I have read one or two posts from you complaining about the high cost of items in Canada and how you obtain such goods from the US.

Do you accept your position appears to be rather hypocritical?

Originally Posted by Jsmth321

If I wasn't being paid peanuts, I wouldn't have to complain about the high prices of essentials like food which some weeks we cannot even buy because we lac the money to even purchase food, let alone even being able to eat a healthy balanced diet.


Whistler is 100% luxury, it serves no other purpose, the companies there want cheap labor to inflate their profits and nothing more. The rich folks paying 400+ per night can afford it, rich folks have no sympathy from me either, if they can afford a hotel for 400 a night they can afford more so wages can go up.

If Whistler companies can't find workers at the wage the company want's to pay, they should not be allowed to just bring in foreign workers, they should be forced to raise the pay to a point where they can attract employees, if they can't afford those wages, then they are in my view not a viable business for that type of region.

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

Do you apply the same logic to the businesses that close where you live, possibly, because those that live there purchase items from the US, because they are cheaper?