I recently came across a dataset on the federal government’s website of all the companies who have participated in Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Programme.
The list contains all the companies who have requested a labour market impact assessment and have been issued a positive LMIA by Service Canada.
Positive LMIAs are issued by Service Canada when they are convinced that the hiring of temporary foreign workers will have either a positive or neutral on the Canadian labour market.
Keep in mind that not every positive LMIA issued results in workers being hired. This is basically a list of employers who have been approved to hire temporary foreign workers; the number of actual workers may vary.
As well, the dataset excludes employers who are individuals or who have a personal name in the business name, so the list is also incomplete.
Even so, as I explored the data, I found some things interesting, and I wanted to share them with you. I’m specifically looking at the data from the second quarter of 2024, which was released last month.
First, here’s a list of the total number of positive LMIAs issued for each province and territory between April and June 2024.
| Quebec | 7918 |
| Ontario | 6445 |
| Alberta | 5793 |
| British Columbia | 4706 |
| Manitoba | 717 |
| Employers with head office outside of Canada | 679 |
| Saskatchewan | 626 |
| Nova Scotia | 340 |
| New Brunswick | 242 |
| Prince Edward Island | 75 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 60 |
| Northwest Territories | 14 |
| Yukon | 12 |
| Nunavut | 6 |
Québec tops the list and just shy of 8,000, followed by Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. I’m not surprised by those results, given that these are the fourth largest provinces in the country, based on population size.
That being said, Québec has the second largest population, so it’s a bit surprising they received the most positive LMIAs. As well, Alberta has the fourth largest population but were issued the third highest number of LMIAs, over 1,000 more than BC.
Now, let’s look at the number of workers approved by the LMIAs in each province.
| Quebec | 13795 |
| Ontario | 13009 |
| British Columbia | 10197 |
| Alberta | 9964 |
| Manitoba | 1540 |
| Saskatchewan | 1155 |
| Nova Scotia | 976 |
| Employers with head office outside of Canada | 964 |
| New Brunswick | 747 |
| Prince Edward Island | 408 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 136 |
| Yukon | 22 |
| Northwest Territories | 19 |
| Nunavut | 16 |
The four largest provinces are still the top 4 in terms of total number of workers approved. Alberta dropped from third place to fourth place, however.
Now, let’s look at the average number of positions per application.
| LMIAs | Workers | Avg | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Edward Island | 75 | 408 | 5.44 |
| New Brunswick | 242 | 747 | 3.09 |
| Nova Scotia | 340 | 976 | 2.87 |
| Nunavut | 6 | 16 | 2.67 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 60 | 136 | 2.27 |
| British Columbia | 4,706 | 10,197 | 2.17 |
| Manitoba | 717 | 1,540 | 2.15 |
| Ontario | 6,445 | 13,009 | 2.02 |
| Saskatchewan | 626 | 1,155 | 1.85 |
| Yukon | 12 | 22 | 1.83 |
| Quebec | 7,918 | 13,795 | 1.74 |
| Alberta | 5,793 | 9,964 | 1.72 |
| Head office outside of Canada | 679 | 964 | 1.42 |
| Northwest Territories | 14 | 19 | 1.36 |
The list is completely mixed up now, with the 3 Maritime provinces topping the list and Newfoundland and Labrador coming in 5th place. PEI, by far, had the highest average workers per LMIA, at nearly 5.5. New Brunswick, which was second was at 3.09, nowhere close to PEI.
Most of the provinces and territories had been approved for an average of more than 2 workers per LMIA. Alberta was the second lowest (if we exclude non-Canadian employers who were approved) at 1.72 workers per LMIA.
Service Canada approved LMIAs for over 19,000 employers in the second quarter of this year. There is no way we could list them all here, so I’m just highlighting the 10 employers who received the most LMIAs.
| Employer | Location | LMIAs |
|---|---|---|
| Technip Singapore Pte. Ltd. | Singapore | 151 |
| Stena Drillmax Ice Ltd | Scotland | 96 |
| Amazon Development Centre Canada ULC | Vancouver, BC | 74 |
| Raw TV Ltd. | England | 71 |
| Deep Sea Management AS | Norway | 68 |
| Autodesk Canada Co. | Toronto, ON | 62 |
| Soul Restaurants Canada Inc | Toronto, ON | 59 |
| HK Travel Centres L.P. | Mississauga, ON | 37 |
| Van Oord Personeel BV | Netherlands | 30 |
| CGI Inc. | Montréal, QC | 30 |
Of the more than 19,000 employers who were issued a positive labour market impact assessment, 78.3% were approved to hire just one worker. That jumps to 93.1% if we include those approved for 2 workers.
Here’s a list of the top 10 employers by the number of workers they were approved for.
| Employer | Location | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Olymel SEC/LP | Saint-Hyacinthe, QC | 466 |
| Houweling Nurseries Ltd. | Delta, BC | 252 |
| DeVry Greenhouses | Chilliwack, BC | 229 |
| Schuyler Farms Ltd. | Simcoe, ON | 220 |
| Flower Group Operating Inc. | Leamington, ON | 200 |
| Pure Flavor Farms LP | Leamington, ON | 182 |
| Stena Drillmax Ice Ltd | Scotland | 170 |
| Cultures Gen V inc. | Sainte-Clotilde, QC | 155 |
| Technip Singapore Pte. Ltd. | Singapore | 151 |
| South Shore Seafoods Ltd. | Lunenburg, NS | 150 |
Most the LMIAs that Service Canada approved were for low wage workers, accounting for 54.28% of all LMIAs but 46.30% of the workers.
| Stream | LMIAs | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Low wage | 14,999 | 24,517 |
| High wage | 8,385 | 13,350 |
| Primary agriculture | 2,622 | 13,391 |
| Global talent stream | 974 | 1,009 |
| Permanent resident only | 653 | 681 |
More than half (53.78%) of the workers approved fell into the following 10 occupations:
| Occupation | LMIAs | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Harvesting labourers | 1,139 | 9,187 |
| Cooks | 2,305 | 3,321 |
| Food service supervisors | 2,393 | 3,210 |
| Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations | 1,796 | 3,008 |
| Construction trades helpers and labourers | 848 | 2,101 |
| Transport truck drivers | 560 | 2,073 |
| Nursery and greenhouse labourers | 207 | 1,751 |
| Livestock labourers | 944 | 1,745 |
| Administrative assistants | 1,082 | 1,182 |
| Retail sales supervisors | 795 | 897 |
So, that’s a look at the national numbers, let’s look at just Alberta’s number.
First, here are all those employers who were approved for at least 20 workers.
| Employer | Location | Occupation | LMIAs | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JBS Food Canada ULC | Brooks | Industrial butchers and meat cutters, poultry preparers and related workers | 1 | 145 |
| Wilco Contractors Southwest Inc. | Calgary & Edmonton | Contractors and supervisors, landscaping, grounds maintenance and horticulture services (30); Landscape and horticulture technicians and specialists (25); Construction trades helpers and labourers (25) | 3 | 80 |
| Doef’s Greenhouses Ltd. | Lacombe | Harvesting labourers | 1 | 72 |
| Classic Landscapes Limited | Edmonton | Landscaping and grounds maintenance labourers (60); contractors and supervisors, landscaping, grounds maintenance and horticulture services (2) | 1 | 62 |
| Alberta Council of Turnaround Industry Maintenance Stakeholders | Calgary | Welders and related machine operators | 1 | 50 |
| Catalyst Changers Inc. | Sundre | Labourers in chemical products processing and utilities | 1 | 40 |
| Cameron Bay Holdings Inc | Ponoka | Food service supervisors | 8 | 40 |
| Westland Greenhouses Ltd. | Redcliff | Harvesting labourers | 1 | 32 |
| Witdouck Farms 2021 | Iron Springs | Livestock labourers | 3 | 31 |
| Turn2 Catalyst Inc. | Edmonton | Labourers in chemical products processing and utilities | 1 | 30 |
| Spruce Meadows Ltd | Calgary | Operators and attendants in amusement, recreation and sport | 1 | 30 |
| Valley Landscape Inc. | Edmonton | Landscaping and grounds maintenance labourers | 1 | 25 |
| BBN Transport Ltd. | Rocky View County | Transport truck drivers (20); administrative officers (2); other trades helpers and labourers (2) | 3 | 24 |
| New-Way Trucking Ltd. | Acheson | Transport truck drivers (20); dispatchers (2) | 3 | 22 |
| Southland Trailer Corp | Lethbridge | Welders and related machine operators | 1 | 20 |
| Servegreen Cleaning Services Ltd | Calgary | Cleaning supervisors | 2 | 20 |
| R & J Concessions Inc | Calgary | Food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations | 1 | 20 |
| Kuby Renewable Energy Ltd. | Edmonton | Construction trades helpers and labourers | 2 | 20 |
| Diamond Dust Acres Ltd | Enchant | Harvesting labourers | 1 | 20 |
Finally, here are the 5 programme streams for Alberta.
| Stream | LMIAs | Workers |
|---|---|---|
| Low wage | 4,195 | 6,732 |
| High wage | 1,396 | 2,636 |
| Primary agriculture | 140 | 529 |
| Global talent stream | 32 | 37 |
| Permanent resident only | 30 | 30 |
Alberta’s low wage stream accounts for 72.41% of all labour market impact assessments issued by Service Canada and 67.56% of all workers approved. These are significantly above the national averages of 54.28% and 46.30%, respectively.
In fact, Alberta accounts for the second highest number all the approved low-wage positions in Canada.
| MLIAs | Workers | |
|---|---|---|
| Quebec | 4,273 | 7,166 |
| Alberta | 4,195 | 6,732 |
| Ontario | 2,888 | 4,242 |
| British Columbia | 2,421 | 3,701 |
| Manitoba | 349 | 696 |
| Saskatchewan | 384 | 598 |
| New Brunswick | 166 | 498 |
| Nova Scotia | 216 | 484 |
| Prince Edward Island | 30 | 235 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 41 | 98 |
| Employers with head office outside of Canada | 11 | 20 |
| Yukon | 10 | 19 |
| Northwest Territories | 12 | 17 |
| Nunavut | 3 | 11 |
And the 5th highest percentage of low-wage workers (the second highest province). Even though Québec was approved for the highest number of low-wage workers, Alberta’s share of all workers was larger.
| Province | All workers | Low-wage workers | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Territories | 19 | 17 | 89.47% |
| Yukon | 22 | 19 | 86.36% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 136 | 98 | 72.06% |
| Nunavut | 16 | 11 | 68.75% |
| Alberta | 9,964 | 6,732 | 67.56% |
| New Brunswick | 747 | 498 | 66.67% |
| Prince Edward Island | 408 | 235 | 57.60% |
| Quebec | 13,795 | 7,166 | 51.95% |
| Saskatchewan | 1,155 | 598 | 51.77% |
| Nova Scotia | 976 | 484 | 49.59% |
| Manitoba | 1,540 | 696 | 45.19% |
| British Columbia | 10,197 | 3,701 | 36.29% |
| Ontario | 13,009 | 4,242 | 32.61% |
| Employers with head office outside of Canada | 964 | 20 | 2.07% |
Nova Scotia, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Ontario were the only provinces where the majority of employers were approved for non-low wage streams.
