The government of Canada has officially announced a new policy that will raise its wage thresholds for foreign workers in the country.
Starting on July 17, 2026, Canada officially implemented higher hourly wage thresholds for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP).
Designed to protect domestic labour markets and curb reliance on low-cost foreign labour, these stricter wage thresholds directly impact how businesses in Canada recruit and retain foreign talent.
Under the revised framework, hourly wage thresholds across provinces and territories in Canada are calculated at 120% of the regional median hourly wage.
Position pay that falls below these updated benchmarks is automatically classified under the TFWP’s low-wage stream, subjecting employers to stringent hiring limits, longer advertising periods, and localised work permit freezes.
The updated wage benchmarks shift the boundary between the high-wage and low-wage LMIA (Labour Market Impact Assessment) streams across nearly every province and territory.
- British Columbia: Increased from $36.60 to $38.40 per hour.
- Alberta: Increased from $36.00 to $37.50 per hour.
- Ontario: Increased from $36.00 to $36.92 per hour.
- Quebec: Increased from $34.62 to $36.00 per hour.
- Saskatchewan: Increased from $33.60 to $34.62 per hour.
- Newfoundland and Labrador: Increased from $32.40 to $33.60 per hour.
- Nova Scotia: Increased from $30.00 to $31.96 per hour.
- New Brunswick: Increased from $30.00 to $31.73 per hour.
- Manitoba: Increased from $30.16 to $31.33 per hour.
- Prince Edward Island: Increased from $30.00 to $31.20 per hour.
- Nunavut: Increased from $42.00 to $45.00 per hour.
- Yukon: Increased from $44.40 to $45.60 per hour.
- Northwest Territories: Unchanged at $48.00 per hour.
Canada continues to block new low-wage TFWP applications and work permit renewals in census metropolitan areas where unemployment is 6% or higher. The restriction covers many major cities, including:
- Toronto
- Ottawa-Gatineau
- Montréal
- Calgary
- Edmonton
- Vancouver
- Hamilton
- London
- Windsor
- Oshawa
- Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo
- Saskatoon
Several other cities across Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan are also affected.
Employers outside these regions can still hire under the low-wage stream if they meet all federal requirements.
Extra Conditions for Employers
Businesses using the low-wage stream must also:
- Limit temporary foreign workers to 10% of their workforce at each location, with a 20% cap for selected sectors such as construction and food manufacturing.
- Advertise jobs for at least eight weeks during the previous three months.
- Recruit Indigenous people, persons with disabilities and workers aged 15 to 30.
- Invite all eligible Job Bank candidates with a rating of two stars or higher.
- Provide suitable, affordable housing.
- Cover round-trip transportation costs for foreign workers.
- A temporary measure running until March 31, 2027, allows eligible rural employers in participating provinces to hire up to 15% of their workforce through the program.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the TFWP serves to allow Canadian employers to hire foreign workers for positions for which no qualified Canadian citizen or permanent resident is available.
Accordingly, a TFWP work permit can only be issued or renewed for a position for which the employer has obtained a positive or neutral Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) from the federal government, and provides its holder authorisation to work only for the employer and role specified.
For both low-wage and high-wage positions through the TFWP, employers are always required to pay the higher of either the median regional wage for the occupation, or equivalent compensation to that earned by Canadian citizens and permanent residents in the same role at the same work location.
The TFWP has come under fire in Canada in recent years, with critics blaming the program for contributing to suppressed wages and rising youth unemployment.
