The list of groups displeased with Premier David Eby's comments about the temporary foreign worker program continues to grow.
And now an association representing restaurants that rely on these workers to fill vacancies is taking issue with the premier's latest social media posts on the subject.
"To argue that somehow this is bringing in cheap labour is simply not true," said Mark von Schellwitz, the vice-president for western Canada at Restaurants Canada. "I think we have to separate the politics from the reality."
Other individuals and groups who have spoken out against the premier's stance include the B.C. Green Party and former NDP MLA Katrina Chen. Both called for reforming the program rather than blaming migrants for the province's labour market ills.
"What we need is reform — immigrants like me aren’t your scapegoats," Chen posted on social media.
The unemployment rate for B.C. youth aged 15 to 24 remains stubbornly high, reaching 12.8 per cent in August, up from 12.1 per cent the previous month, but down from 13.5 per cent in August 2024.
Eby places some blame for this on the temporary foreign worker program, which he also says is at least partly responsible for overburdening the province's food banks and homeless shelters.
On Monday (Sept. 8), he took his comments a step further, posting a video to social media criticizing two B.C. restaurants for trying to fill management roles with temporary workers.
"I don't believe that they can't find a British Columbian on their team to promote to manager," Eby said. "Don't believe it."
Von Schellwitz took issue with the premier singling out those restaurants, arguing that the process for hiring a temporary foreign worker is arduous and expensive, and each situation is unique.
"It's irresponsible for Premier Eby to call out specific individual restaurants for using the program without understanding the rationale why they're getting those TFWs (temporary foreign workers), and to just simply throw restaurants under the bus for using the program," he said.
In the first quarter of 2025, 11,750 temporary foreign workers were approved for hire in B.C., down from 18,225 in the same period in 2024. The numbers are down nationally as well, dropping from 71,177 in the first quarter of 2024 to 53,845 in 2025.
To hire a temporary foreign worker, an employer must first complete a labour market impact assessment, which involves posting the job to allow local workers to apply. On the federal jobs bank website, there were 1,298 postings on Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 10) for jobs in B.C. that had pending or approved impact assessments. Of those, 249 were for management positions.
Eby's office said his latest restaurant-specific comments only referred to management positions.
"The premier articulated a question being asked by many: why can’t those managers be trained and promoted from the current team of British Columbian employees who already work there?" says a statement from the premier's office provided to Black Press Media. "Especially if there is a younger person (25 or under) able to take the job at a time with high youth unemployment."
Von Schellwitz contends there are not always enough youth workers to take on these roles, and the need can be particularly acute in certain regions. It is also difficult, he says, to find enough young workers who do not have other commitments, such as school, that prevent them from working year-round.
He acknowledges the need to reform the system, but says that his organization wants to replace the program with something that is targeted to areas and industries in need of workers.
"We need these people in key places, and we would prefer if the premier would engage with us on a policy discussion as opposed to playing politics," he said.
Eby, for his part, has indicated he is open to reforming this system and the provincial nominee program, provided they are altered to protect both domestic and immigrant workers
"The premier has been clear, we need an immigration system that is fair to workers in these programs and treats them with dignity, as well as being fair to British Columbians who are willing and able to take on those jobs, including managerial positions," his office said.
