By Rod Nickel
WINNIPEG, Manitoba, March 17 (Reuters) - Canada's move to
loosen restrictions on hiring foreign workers for east coast
seafood plants was a one-time decision, and the government is
not convinced other sectors need similar measures, the country's
employment minister said on Thursday.
The Liberal government eased restrictions under its foreign
worker program recently for Atlantic seafood processors,
allowing them to bring in unlimited numbers of low-skilled,
temporary foreign workers this year, The Globe and Mail
newspaper reported on Thursday.
Processors have complained about a dire labor shortage.
Other sectors, notably meat-packing, agriculture and
restaurants, have made similar complaints about a dearth of
workers.
But Employment Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk said she views the
shortage of seafood plant workers as unique, so the government
made a "one-time provision."
"Industry said, 'We're going to lose opportunity to process
our products, please help us.' That's exactly what we did," the
minister said in an interview in Winnipeg.
The government expects those processors to now develop
longer-term plans to hire Syrian refugees and permanent Canadian
residents, she said.
Other sectors would have to show "a really compelling case"
to get the same flexibility, the minister said. If there are
nearby Aboriginal communities with high unemployment, those
people and other Canadians should get opportunities first to
work in sectors with labor shortages, she said.
Canada unexpectedly shed jobs last month, pushing the
unemployment rate to a nearly three-year high, Statistics Canada
said last week.
The former Conservative government tightened restrictions on
Canada's temporary foreign worker program in 2014, after
politically embarrassing news reports that foreign workers had
displaced Canadians at some McDonald's Corp MCD.N restaurants.
The program had been designed to help provide labor for the
once-booming resource industry. But its use by the low-skill
fast-food industry raised questions about whether this was good
for the economy or fair to Canadians who could not find work.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals won government in
October, and swept electoral districts in the Atlantic
provinces.
The government plans to start a full review of the temporary
foreign worker program soon, Mihychuk said.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)