Tim Hortons pushes to hire 10,000 Canadians, citing decline in temporary foreign workers

Ajouté : 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Let's get into it. I've got some movement on my least favorite coffee company issue.

[00:00:07]If you've been uh boycotting Tim Hortons like so many people including myself have been doing, I am here to tell you that uh they are now admitting that you can indeed hire Canadians if you want to. The Tim Hortons who have draped themselves in the cloak of Canadiana and patriotism for far too long, but uh I think are the biggest culprits of the abuse of the temporary foreign worker program, well, they've launched a campaign because they know which way the wind is blowing that aims to recruit 10,000 new local team members.

[00:00:47]So, they say um and it looks like they're only doing this because they might not have access to as many temporary foreign workers as they have been relying on.

[00:00:58]In a release sent out Monday, the Canadian coffee chain sent that out of 110,000 Tim Hortons employees, 4,000 were hired through the TFW program, a number it said has declined steadily since 2024. I do not believe that for a second. If you've been to a Tim Hortons lately, Efron, can you just scroll up?

[00:01:18]They're not doing this because uh they want to, because it's the right thing to do to address the youth unemployment crisis in this country after years of I don't know, bringing in a slave underclass that drives down our wages and then drives up the cost of everything else. Tim Hortons is launching this campaign because they are concerned, although it's it's not necessarily the case, but the government has announced, I'd like to see it in action though, that the number of temporary foreign workers is declining.

[00:01:50]So, they're I think they're concerned that they won't have access to the same slave underclass as they have had. And let me just put a pin on this before somebody says Sheila, you know, you're cutting temporary foreign workers since the majority of them come from the Indian subcontinent sounds a little racist. I don't care where these people are from.

[00:02:11]If they are coming into the country and taking jobs that could be done by Canadians, but in particular Canadian youth who, you know, if you're age 15 to 19, your unemployment rate is at 20%. That's atrocious.

[00:02:25]If I don't care where you're from, just go back to where you came from.

[00:02:30]If you're here temporarily to fill a labor market void and really there is no labor market void, out you go.

[00:02:39]And so now Tim Hortons is doing this um on the eve of Dunkin' Donuts entering the marketplace. So they will have competition for the I don't know, the blue-collar coffee crowd, but normal coffee crowd, the people who don't care for Starbucks.

[00:02:58]Um they're this is a convenient announcement, I believe, because if Dunkin' Donuts walks in the door and says, "You know what?

[00:03:08]We're going to hire just Canadians.

[00:03:10]We're not going You won't find our name on the LMIA database." That's a labor market impact assessment uh database.

[00:03:18]You have to fill out that before you get access to temporary foreign workers. Um if I if Dunkin' Donuts walks in the door and says that, man, Tim Hortons is in for a world of hurt. Uh we've got the conservatives coming out um on this, but also seeing right through what Tim Hortons is doing. This is Andrew Lawton, former journalist from Juno, now the MP for London, Ontario. He says at start, "No corporation should be relying on temporary foreign workers for service jobs when unemployment is as high as it is, especially youth unemployment.

[00:03:54]Exactly. I see this for what it is and this is pernicious and opportunistic.

[00:04:01]I think Jamil Jivani, up front, I hate to put you on the spot. He said something very similar.

[00:04:07]Um and I I'll do my best not to darken Tim Hortons doors until they don't have a single temporary foreign worker.

[00:04:20]Uh he says this is good news, but we must ask, why weren't they already doing this? Yeah, if you can all of a sudden staff up 10,000 Canadians, why didn't you staff up 10,000 Canadians before today? Why did big corporations and liberal politicians tell us that Canadians don't want to work? And who else is using the temporary foreign workers program, but doesn't actually need it? Yeah, this just tells me Tim Hortons doesn't actually need it. And I'm old enough to remember about 90 seconds ago when Tim Hortons and Restaurants Canada, which is their lobby group, said, uh young Canadians are too lazy for these jobs. They don't want them. They're too lazy. So, all of a sudden you found 10,000 young Canadians who aren't lazy after you maligned them in such a way?

[00:05:03]Give me a break.

[00:05:05]It's just ridiculous.

[00:05:07]Um as I said, they're doing this on the eve of Dunkin Donuts coming into the country. And that's why they're doing it. And um let's not let them play fast and loose with the rules here.

[00:05:21]Because I did a story not all that long ago. I got my hands on the lobbying records from Tim Hortons.

[00:05:28]And not only were they lobbying for an increase in temporary foreign workers to be allowed in the country, but they were doing this little back door temporary foreign worker thingamajiggy loop They wanted a loophole created so that if you were a temporary foreign student, and boy we know there's a fraudulent bunch of those in this country.

[00:05:47]They wanted the temporary foreign students to be able to work more hours. I think move from 30 hours a week that they're allowed to work. So, they get to steal a part-time job from a Canadian up to 36 hours, which is approaching full-time.

[00:06:05]So, don't kid yourself. These people may not be using temporary foreign workers, at least 10,000 of them. Now, that's Come on, we know there's a lot more. We've all been to Tim Hortons lately.

[00:06:18]But, their way around this, I predict, will be to be using temporary foreign students who can work more hours.

[00:06:29]Anyway, that's Tim Hortons trying to uh repair its image before a major American competitor comes into the market. And you know what? I'd rather have coffee at a major American competitor than a fake Canadian company. I mean, just fake all the way through. It's not Canadian owned and operated, and it doesn't employ Canadians. In fact, it undermines Canadian employment. So, I welcome our new Dunkin Donuts overlords. I hope you do, too.