Some changes took effect Friday, while a regional system and a possible 15% workforce cap require provincial or territorial participation

Thunder Bay – National News — The federal government has doubled the maximum duration of new low-wage Labour Market Impact Assessments to two years and added early childhood educators to a list of jobs exempt from a processing freeze in high-unemployment cities.

The changes took effect Friday for applications submitted on or after Nov. 6. A Labour Market Impact Assessment, or LMIA, is the employer’s federal approval showing a need to hire a foreign worker when a Canadian citizen or permanent resident is not available.

Employment and Social Development Canada also outlined a second set of proposed changes for March 1, 2027. Those measures depend on provinces and territories choosing to participate and would give them more influence over which occupations and communities can use the low-wage stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program.

Two tracks: immediate and conditional

Starting March 1, participating provinces and territories could add or remove occupations based on regional needs in large and mid-sized urban areas where the unemployment rate is below six per cent. Rural communities would continue to have access to all occupations in the low-wage stream.

A province or territory could also identify communities where eligible employers may hire temporary foreign workers for up to 15 per cent of their workforce, up from the usual 10 per cent cap. Priority sectors would keep their existing 20 per cent limit.

Minister of Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu said the goal is to respond to genuine shortages while keeping Canadians first in line for available jobs. That is the government’s position; Friday’s release did not include independent reaction from employers, unions or migrant-worker organizations.

Worker protection and permanent status remain live issues

Temporary foreign workers in the program are generally tied to a specific employer, a feature that labour and migrant-rights advocates have long said can make workers vulnerable to abuse. The new release announced $82 million over four years for the Migrant Worker Support Program, which funds information and help for workers to understand and exercise their rights.

Hajdu said she will meet provincial and territorial counterparts in the coming weeks. The government has not published a deadline for each jurisdiction to opt in or a final list of eligible occupations and communities for the March system.

Source notes

• Employment and Social Development Canada — Targeted Temporary Foreign Worker Program reforms — Published Nov. 6, 2026; accessed Nov. 7 at 5:02 a.m. EST.