When a business faces a labour shortage, the free market says they should raise wages. So why is Canada’s government stepping in to make labour cheaper instead?

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt dive into how Canada's low-wage Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program and the explosion of international student work caps have completely disrupted the laws of supply and demand. As Canadian youth face historic unemployment rates, we break down how corporate lobbying and government policy created a cheat code that insulates businesses from capitalism, while pushing young workers off the first rung of the career ladder.

From the housing crisis in Alberta's mountain tourist towns to Tim Hortons' recent PR scramble, we expose the loop of corporate reliance on exploitable temporary labor and ask: how do we let the market actually fix itself?

Topics covered:

• Canada's rising youth unemployment rate
• The Temporary Foreign Worker Program explained
• How international student work rules affect the job market
• Why labour shortages don't always mean there aren't enough workers
• Seasonal jobs, tourism, and staff housing
• The economics of wages, supply, and demand
• Tim Hortons and the TFW controversy
• Policy solutions to improve opportunities for young Canadians

#Canada #YouthUnemployment #TemporaryForeignWorkers #Jobs #CanadianEconomy #LabourMarket #Economics #Immigration #PublicPolicy #MissingMiddle

Chapters:

00:00 - The Free Market Myth in Canada
01:24 - Gen Z vs. Gen X: The Youth Unemployment Crisis
02:12 - Why Student Jobs Suddenly Vanished
03:32 - How the TFW Program Ballooned Over 50 Years
05:39 - The Corporate Lobbying Flipping Immigration Rules
07:11 - Debunking the Alberta "Labour Shortage"
09:47 - Why Canada Insulates Businesses From Capitalism
11:11 - What "Dirty Dancing" Teaches Us About Seasonal Housing
14:06 - The Dark Side of Temporary Work Regulations
16:02 - Exposing Tim Hortons' "Local Hiring" PR Spin
18:57 - How to Break the TFW Doom Loop

Research/links:

Tourist towns ‘desperate’ for workers in Alberta

https://www.cp24.com/news/2026/03/28/i-have-to-find-at-least-35-people-before-june-1-worker-shortages-in-albertas-tourist-towns/

Tim Hortons says it will hire locals, scale back temporary foreign workers

https://globalnews.ca/news/11863474/tim-hortons-temporary-foreign-workers/

Tim Hortons is Committed to Local Hiring Launching National Campaign to Hire 10,000 Local Team Members 

https://www.news.timhortons.ca/en/articles/tim-hortons-is-committed-to-local-hiring-launching-national-camp

Youth unemployment in Canada jumped 57% in 3 years, hitting levels previously unseen outside a recession

https://thehub.ca/2026/05/07/canadas-youth-unemployment-jumped-57-in-3-years-hit-unprecedented-jobless-levels-outside-recession-by-2025/

Youth unemployment in Canada near record highs since 2022; unprecedented levels outside of a recession

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/extraordinary-increase-youth-unemployment-canada

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/extraordinary-increase-of-youth-unemployment-in-canada.pdf

Temporary ForeignWorkers in Canada:Are They Really Filling Labour Shortages?

https://cdhowe.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/commentary_407.pdf

StatsCan: Drayton Valley statistical area sees lowest unemployment in Alberta at 4.9 per cent

https://www.bigwestcountry.ca/2026/06/05/statscan-drayton-valley-statistical-area-sees-lowest-unemployment-in-alberta-at-4-9-per-cent/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20latest%20Labour,5.3%20per%20cent%20in%20April

Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Programs - The Canadian Encyclopedia

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadas-temporary-foreign-worker-programs

Businesses face new limits on temporary foreign worker program

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/tfw-program-new-limits-1.7333777

3 problems with the temporary foreign worker program and 3 possible fixes, according to experts

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/temporary-foreign-worker-program-fixes-1.7633045

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/