Expert ‘taken aback’ by Eby foreign worker claims, says axing program won’t fix woes

Construction workers work at the site of a condo tower under construction, in Delta, B.C., on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

VICTORIA — An immigration expert says ending the temporary foreign worker program won’t solve “deep structural problems” with housing and other issues in British Columbia, while having “problematic consequences” for labour availability.

Irene Bloemraad, co-director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia, says calls to scrap or reform the program are an “easy way” to distract from a lack of affordable housing and other woes.

Her remarks come after Premier David Eby and federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre both suggested axing the program this week, linking it to youth unemployment and other problems.

Bloemraad says housing prices will not “magically go down” if temporary foreign workers or international students were to stop coming to B.C. tomorrow.

Eby acknowledged the need for temporary foreign workers in agriculture, but Bloemraad says B.C. also needs them in housing construction.

She says any changes to the program must consider “trade offs,” and she was “taken aback” by Eby’s “very categorical” remarks connecting immigration to both unemployment and housing problems.

Eby said Thursday that the temporary foreign worker program should “be cancelled or significantly reformed” because the province can’t have an immigration system that has been linked to high youth unemployment, while putting pressure on housing and schools.

This report by Wolfgang Depner of The Canadian Press was first published September 5, 2025.