Temporary foreign worker program needs review following Microsoft deal: NDP

The federal NDPwants a full independent review of the temporary foreign worker program after CBC News obtained draft documents showingthe bulk of workers at Microsoft's new British Columbiatraining centre will likelybe foreigners.

NDPemploymentcritic Jinny Sims said the documentsshow Microsoft has managed to get around the federal government's promise to crack down onthe program.

• Microsoft's new B.C. workforce to consist mostly of foreigners: draft plan
• Read the Microsoft Centre of Excellence documents

"It's Canadians who are losing jobs because Microsoft has no commitment and no legal obligation ... to do any kind of search within the [Canadian]labour market," she said in an interview.

Federaland provincial governments have praised the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre as a boost to the B.C. economy that willcreate 400jobs, mainly in software and services engineering.

But, under a federal-provincial annex agreement, Microsoftwas exempted from conducting a labour market impact assessment (LMIA) for a group of 150 rotational workers, or paid trainees. That assessment would have required the company to provide evidence thatthere areno Canadians qualified for thejobs.

In acrackdown last spring,the Employment and Social Development department under former minister Jason Kenney promised to stop such exemptions through the annex agreements.

The documents show that in the planning stages, another 200 "core" employees at the Microsoft Centre of Excellence would be hired, but no guarantees were made that more than 10 per cent of thoseworkers would be Canadian.

79 Canadians hired so far

Sims said the company should have to prove its claims there aren't enough qualified Canadians.

"How can I believe that when they themselves have no obligation to look for Canadian workers, and we have no data? They don't even have to advertise [the jobs],"she said.

Thedocuments regarding jobs at the excellence centrewereobtained under provincial freedom of information laws andgiven to CBC News by a third party who works in the high-tech industry.

On Wednesday, Microsoft Canada's director of legal and corporate affairs said the company is "creating net new jobs" with theexcellence centre.

"In fact, we have hired Canadians since the announcement last year. And those are jobs that exist and would not exist if it weren't for the establishment of the excellence centre," Dennis Lopes told CBC Radio's The Early Edition.

International trainees at this facility will not be entering the Canadian labour market.- Kevin Menard, Citizenship and Immigration Canada

In a statement late Wednesday night, Microsoft said it has so farhired 79 Canadians to staff the training centre. But it has made no promise to hire a majority of Canadians at the facility, or to prove through a labour market assessment that qualified Canadians areunavailable.

Earlier, the company statedthat itscurrent employees are mostly Canadian, but "aswe hire staff for our new excellence centre, we will be recruiting talent from around the world (in addition to Canada), which may result in that balance shifting."

Thecompany's response comes after CBC News asked Microsoft and both the B.C. and federalgovernments to provide updated numbers about the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre.

'Smoke and mirrors'

The federal government said at first that the jobs will "mostly" go to Canadians.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Citizenship Minister Chris Alexander said the government has limited the temporary foreign worker program to "a short term, last, and limited resort for employers when there are no qualified Canadians to fill available jobs."

"International trainees at this facility will not be entering the Canadian labour market. Subsequently, the Microsoft Centre of Excellence in Canada will provide training and job opportunities for Canadians in Canada," Kevin Menard wrote in an email to CBC News.

Sims, whose riding isB.C.'s Newton-North Delta, said the government is not being honest.

"What they use are smoke and mirrors.They keep saying well, the majority of workers will be Canadian, when the [documents show]exactly the opposite,"she said.

• Read the Microsoft Centre of Excellence documents

Sims noted thatMicrosoft officials havesaidthe B.C. training centre was born of a desireto get around stricter U.S. foreignworker rules, and she believes the150 rotational workers willlikely be transferred to the U.S. in a short period of time.

"Here we have a company that admits it's only bringing people through Canada because the rules are tougher in theU.S. And we have a government that's facilitating this type of manipulation," she said."We used tohear of money-laundering, this is people-laundering."

We used tohear of money-laundering, this is people-laundering.- Jinny Sims, NDP employment critic

Inan interview last yearwith Bloomberg Businessweek, Karen Jones, Microsofts deputy general counsel, saidthe deal will allow Microsoft to bypass stricter U.S. rules on visas for foreign workers.

"The U.S. laws clearly did not meet our needs. We have to look to other places," she told the wire service. She went on to sayMicrosoft didnt choose to expand in Vancouver "purely for immigration purposes, but immigration is a factor."

The B.C. government has insisted the training centre will provide a "net benefit"by bringing in "at least $90 million annually for up to 10 years."

If you have more information on this or another story, contact Louise Elliott at louise.elliott@cbc.ca.