Tim Hortons scales back use of temporary foreign workers | Hanomansing Tonight

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]After years of lobbying Ottawa to make it easier to bring in more foreign workers, Tim Hortons now says it's committed to hiring more people in Canada, as many as 10,000 as the coffee and donut giant looks to open new locations. So, what has the company said about the temporary foreign worker program and its future plans? Well, Sarah Galashians looking into that for us.

[00:00:20]>> Yeah. Its future plans are important maybe to anyone who might be looking for a job potentially this summer are moving forward because as you mentioned 80 new uh restaurants that they are looking to open across the country and they are looking to hire 10,000 what they're describing as local hires and to that they put out a press release today launching a national ad campaign specifically for that reason. And this campaign we can show you here a lot of the pictures if you look closely are of young people. Um and I think that that's the point they're trying to make here.

[00:00:49]They do say that they are a leader in this country of employing youth. 45% they say of their staff are between the ages of 15 to 24. Um, and this is a company and in this press release they actually talk about this that has previously lobbyed the federal government for greater access to what's called the temporary foreign workers program. And they made that lobby as recently as last year. Um, but right now they say only 3.6% 6% of their employees are are filled or those employee spots are filled by the temporary workers program and that that means an employee that comes from another country at the behest of the employer for a certain amount of time. um the they don't need to is what they're saying look to that program because there's enough to be hiring within uh Canada given the high unemployment rate particularly of youth in the country and so for that reason they are using the word local to describe the hiring that they intend to do and 10,000 positions is what they're looking for. Now, in a moment, we're going to hear from a senior executive from Tim Hortons about this change in plans, but let me ask you about some pretty significant competition looming for Tim Hortons, the American chain Dunkin Donuts.

[00:02:00]>> Yeah, an iconic American chain. Um, you know, and Tim Hortons for Canada is really sort of the equivalent if you were to ask many Canadians. Of course, it's important to point out that it is currently owned at least partly by a uh a Brazilian American private equity uh fund, but um it is an institution, Tim Hortons, for many Canadians. And CBC spoke with um a a business consultant who said that uh for Tim Hortons, they are really leaning on that Canadian history here uh in terms of how they plan to compete with Duncan when it arrives to Canada. Take a listen.

[00:02:36]Duncan has aggressive plans to open a lot of locations next year, but it's still going to be several years before they catch up to the number of locations Tims has. So, I think they're hiring local youth is just again doubling down on the fact that, you know, we're Canadian, we support local Canadian jobs and uh local Canadian people uh which is just going to be an advantage for them.

[00:02:59]>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so think about it, you know, at a time when, you know, there are unemployment is high. This is a for many people a beloved Canadian institution looking to hire Canadians.

[00:03:09]So, look for those ads to be reflecting that kind of sentiment uh rolling out probably as soon as this summer.

[00:03:15]>> Okay, Sarah, thank you very much.

[00:03:18]>> My next guest is the chief corporate officer at Restaurant Brands International, the company that owns Tim Hortons among other fast food restaurants, Duncan Fulton. Thanks for joining us.

[00:03:28]>> Hi. Uh, let's talk about hiring. Less than a year ago, your company was lobbying the government to increase the cap on on the number of temporary foreign workers that you could hire, but now Tim Hortons is promoting hiring a lot more Canadian workers. What's changed?

[00:03:45]>> I think two things have happened in the last couple days. First, we announced a major investment in Canadian communities with 80 new restaurants being opened this year, 400 renovations at a $400 million investment, mostly by our restaurant owners. And today, we announced a local hiring campaign nationwide looking for 10,000 local hires for our restaurants, including those new restaurants that are open. You know, our restaurant owners have always hired locally. You know, I think there's been a misperception around the TFW program. In our case, we have 110,000 team members in 4,000 restaurants. Only about 4,000 of those are TFWs, temporary foreign workers uh usually in those areas that are the most rural, remote, hard to uh find labor in.

[00:04:35]>> Yeah. So, I think those numbers might surprise people because I think there is a perception and frankly some of the social media commentary, you know, verges or actually is is a little racist on this, but there is a perception that Tim Hortons uh doesn't hire a lot of Canadians, does hire a lot of temporary foreign workers. Um, but I guess there was a time a few years ago when you had a lot more temporary foreign workers than you do now, right?

[00:05:00]Yeah, there was a time coming out of co and if everyone remembers back to 2021 2022 uh people were slow to get back to work.

[00:05:09]People were slow to let their kids get back to work. The government increased the number of temporary foreign workers that the country could have across all industries, manufacturing, agriculture, retail, restaurant. We were certainly there encouraging that to make sure that we were open for Canadians. The reality is uh our restaurant owners have done 400 local hiring campaigns so far this year. Use of the program is down 50% year-over-year. We know youth unemployment is high. And at the end of the day, if you own a restaurant, it's just easier to hire locally. Our owners have always believed that. And that's what we're promoting with this new uh campaign. And I think your viewers will be seeing it on TV.

[00:05:50]How confident are you that you can hit that 10,000 number?

[00:05:56]>> I think very confident. I mean, we always hire locally. If you look at the 110,000 team members, we have 96% of them have been hired locally. I think and look, you raised, you know, the issue of perceptions in the restaurant. The fact is our communities are more diverse today than they were 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Uh we hire from the community. It's always been neighbors serving neighbors at Timortons and as our communities are more diverse, our restaurants look more diverse, but you know, coming in um you know, you really have to ask yourself, uh you know, people saying that folks aren't a Canadian in the restaurant. We have so many wonderful Canadians that have worked for us, that are from diverse communities, that have given their entire life to the brand, that have grown up with the brand, that have become owners of restaurants. Um, you know, hiring locally is what we've always done.

[00:06:51]>> Workers aside, um, there's an interesting debate in Canada about just how Canadian Tim Hortons the company is.

[00:06:59]Like, I grew up just outside Monton, New Brunswick. Uh, one of those cities where there were a lot of Tim Hortons early on. So, I grew up with the brand. I'm very familiar with it. Uh, it is an iconic part of, uh, of growing up in Canada. But at the same time, a lot of people say, "Look, in in 2026, this is no longer actually a Canadian company because of the ownership." What do you say to that?

[00:07:20]>> I think it is in every way. And actually, I'm from Freredton, so I understand the uh I understand the perspective that you grew up with on with Tims. We have 1,500 Canadian restaurant owners who live and work in the communities across Canada where they own and operate those 4,000 restaurants.

[00:07:38]They paid out of their own pocket to build those restaurants to buy those restaurants. They make payroll every single week for plus or minus 30 people that work in their restaurants. They give back to their communities. Um to the tune of upwards of hund00 million of the brand and from the owners themselves about $50 million. Um you look at where we buy our products, we're buying $1.6 billion a year from Canadian suppliers.

[00:08:06]the chairs in the new restaurants or Canadian maplewood that handmade in Montreal. At the end of the day, the brand is led by our Canadian restaurant owners. Um, and I they really are the heart of the brand in our communities.

[00:08:22]>> Coffee and a donut at Tim Hortons, uh, you know, that that's the kind of the at its most elemental level what what you have to offer. And there's a lot of competition, right? Uh, the McDonald's wants me to buy their coffee, their Starbucks. uh you know there are lots of independent chains and now you've got Dunkin Donuts uh coming into Quebec and then presumably across the country. How what's the biggest challenge for Tim Hortons right now in Canada?

[00:08:49]>> You know, we operate on a three-year rolling uh road map. So, the food and beverages that you're seeing show up on the menu today have been in design for more than two years. the restaurants that we're going to be opening this year, those 80 new restaurants, those have been in the pipeline for a couple of years. Competition's always made us better. Um, and we look forward to competition. Our focus right now is building out what are we doing in two to three years from now. I'm actually standing in our test kitchen. Every single new menu item that a Canadian will try out of Tim Hortons comes out of this kitchen in downtown Toronto. It's our headquarters. Um, and our focus right now is looking at what comes next in 27,28 29 for the restaurants and the team's brewing up some exciting stuff.

[00:09:38]>> Duncan Fulton is the chief corporate officer at Restaurant Brands International. Thanks for speaking with us.

[00:09:43]>> Thanks. Appreciate it.