US and Canadian Immigration Lawyer Andy Semotiuk: Another article from the CBC is taking the Canadian government and big business to task for hiring foreign workers. You may recall that the CBC highlighted temporary foreign worker issues with McDonald’s in 2014. This time, it’s Microsoft:

A majority of workers at a new Microsoft Canada training centre in Vancouver would be drawn from the ranks of foreigners, according to draft plans obtained under British Columbia’s freedom of information laws.

Both the federal and provincial governments have praised the Microsoft Canada Excellence Centre as a project that will boost the B.C. economy and create 400 jobs, mainly in software and services engineering…

Immigration lawyer Lorne Waldman said the draft plans call into question the government’s stated rationale of economic benefit.

“One wonders what’s the actual economic benefit to Canada of creating 400 jobs if the majority of those jobs are going to foreign workers and not to Canadians, and especially given that a lot of these foreign workers are going to be rotating through Canada with the ultimate object possibly being to get jobs in the United States or other jurisdictions,” he said.

The documents show the province pursued the plan through its so-called major project exemption process, which requires the project not displace British Columbians from the job market, create job opportunities for British Columbians, and result in a “sizeable multi-year investment.”

The problem with the views expressed in such articles is the supposition that jobs are commodities owned by Canada, and that the federal government’s role is to control companies in doling out such jobs.