Juno News - Rustad clarified foreign worker program position

00:00:00.000 B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad has walked back his initial opposition to calls to abolish the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, now saying he fully supports the Conservative plan.

00:00:14.040 Antisemitic incidents account for a majority of hate crimes in Canada. However, a London, Ontario school board, quote, human rights training module, makes no mention of the phenomenon.

00:00:24.300 A secondary school in Hamilton started the school year by informing parents that their children would be involved in a, quote, gradeless learning trial this year.

00:00:33.160 Hello, Canada. It's Monday, September 8th, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux.

00:00:38.500 And I'm Alex Altheim.

00:00:39.860 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top strides of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:00:47.120 B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad has reversed his stance on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program days earlier.

00:00:57.280 He stated British Columbians need the program to protect the province's agriculture and tourism industries.

00:01:02.900 Rustad reversed his position on the TFW program after blasting B.C. Premier David Eby for saying the Fed should cancel or significantly reform the program.

00:01:11.980 It's time for a serious and adult conversation about addressing these immigration issues in our province and in the country.

00:01:20.500 We can't have an immigration system that fills up our homeless shelters and our food banks. 1.00

00:01:24.600 We can't have an immigration system that outpaces our ability to build schools and housing. 1.00

00:01:29.160 And we can't have an immigration program that results in high youth unemployment.

00:01:33.220 In response to a statement that Conservative leader Pierre Polyev posted on X, Rustad now says he supports the Conservative plan to abolish the program, saying a standalone program makes his previous concerns moot for the agriculture industry.

00:01:47.040 Rustad said, quote,

00:01:48.180 Rostad did not respond to TrueNorth's request for comment on Friday about his original stance that the program was necessary because tourism destinations such as Whistler were, quote, in desperate need of TFWs.

00:02:15.180 Polyev's post said, quote,

00:02:17.460 Out of work Canadians could do these jobs, yet the Kearney government is allowing corporations to hire temporary foreign workers.

00:02:24.420 The post included several listings for TFW jobs paying anywhere from $25 an hour to $110,000 annually.

00:02:31.820 The minimum wage in B.C. is $17.85 an hour.

00:02:35.860 So, Alex, now both sides of B.C. politics, the Conservatives and other Premiers, have all raised issues about the TFW program.

00:02:42.320 So what has Kearney and the Liberals said about this?

00:02:44.580 Well, Kearney has said, somewhat confoundingly, that he has heard from stakeholders in Quebec and elsewhere that they need the temporary foreign worker program in order to continue operations.

00:02:57.180 And that may be true in specific sectors such as the agricultural sector.

00:03:01.640 But in the service sector, much like Michelle Rempel-Garner and also much like Pierre Polyev, I find that this is bunk.

00:03:10.020 And the reason that I feel this way, Isaac, is that there are many businesses that are completely equivalent or adjacent to Tim Hortons.

00:03:19.300 That's the classic example right now where they do not hire temporary foreign workers and they do not seem to have staffing issues.

00:03:26.080 Starbucks would be a good example.

00:03:27.500 So, Starbucks, unlike Tim Hortons, does not run on a franchisee model and they have committed to not hiring temporary foreign workers, they hire Canadians.

00:03:37.000 They don't seem to be having any trouble staffing their establishments.

00:03:41.760 So, I simply don't buy the notion that the temporary foreign worker program is required for businesses outside of the agricultural sector, including remote businesses, to operate.

00:03:52.520 There's just no evidence to suggest that that's true.

00:03:56.040 Yeah, Alex, we've all seen the videos.

00:03:57.520 It's certainly not a supply issue when these job fairs have hundreds, if not thousands, of youth lining up for these jobs.

00:04:03.720 It's not a supply issue.

00:04:04.700 It just comes down to these companies want these jobs funded through the government, aka through the taxpayer.

00:04:11.720 Well, I think a huge part of it as well is that not only specifically when it comes to the temporary foreign worker program for students,

00:04:18.560 a lot of these franchisees receive a kickback from the government for hiring them, but they also receive the added advantage of this person being locked into that contractual obligation to work for that person.

00:04:31.460 And in some cases, their housing is also reliant on that individual.

00:04:35.160 So, as a crime reporter for True North, I can tell you right now, Isaac, we have seen cases of sexploitation in which franchisees or business owners have brought in temporary foreign workers and have made them do terrible things.

00:04:46.660 And in the UN, of all establishments, one that you would think is very supportive of federal liberal ideas, because those two institutions, the federal liberals and the UN, seem to be in lockstep.

00:04:56.980 Even they have said that the federal liberal temporary foreign worker program as it currently exists, and I understand that the program is not necessarily a liberal program, it's a hybrid of liberal and conservative policies, but the UN has said that this is a form of modern slavery.

00:05:11.560 Internal documents obtained by True North reveal that human rights training modules at London's Taines Valley District School Board are out of touch with the patterns of religious discrimination reported across Ontario schools.

00:05:26.340 These documents, covering four human rights training modules, were part of an internal staff meeting.

00:05:31.980 The human rights training slides covered the foundations of human rights law, definitions of discrimination and harassment, and the legal duty to accommodate.

00:05:39.220 All four sessions were identical, except for the final one.

00:05:42.700 In April 2024, staff were shown two additional videos covering themes of what they call microaggressions.

00:05:49.940 One was an American-produced clip about race politics, the second was a Canadian-made clip centered on anti-Muslim bigotry, depicting a young girl in a hijab bullied throughout the school day by white classmates.

00:06:01.620 The training did not contain any material on the growing reports of pervasive anti-Semitism in Ontario schools.

00:06:07.760 Exact hate crime figures for the London Metropolitan Area Census are not publicly available or by religious groups.

00:06:13.900 However, a report to London police boards in 2023 showed that hate or bias-motivated hate crimes in the city rose by nearly 40% compared to the year before, continuing an upward trend observed since 2019.

00:06:24.900 At the national level, Statistics Canada recorded 1,284 police-reported hate crimes motivated by religion in 2023, a 67% increase year over year.

00:06:35.320 Jewish people accounted for over 70% of those cases, while Muslims represented just 16%.

00:06:41.640 True North contacted the Thames Valley District School Board Director and Human Rights Office to ask why the human rights training module included no reference to anti-Semitism while still highlighting anti-Muslim hate.

00:06:53.260 And to clarify as well, what measures were being taken to address anti-Semitism within the board, no response was received.

00:07:00.360 So Isaac, this clearly isn't an isolated incident for Ontario school boards.

00:07:04.640 What other criticisms have been levied at Ontario schools by Jewish Canadians and their allies with regards to anti-Semitism?

00:07:11.300 Yeah, Alex, it's a long list.

00:07:13.680 Jewish Canadians and their allies have recently levied various criticisms against Ontario schools and school boards.

00:07:19.520 And just briefly on what you mentioned there, beyond the gaps in training, parents within the Thames Valley District School Board have shared that their children are routinely subjected to anti-Semitic slurs and that complaints to staff are frequently dismissed or minimized.

00:07:32.780 Some families say students no longer feel safe, openly identifying as Jewish in class or even on school property.

00:07:38.740 Former federal anti-Semitism envoy Deborah Lyons documented 781 anti-Semitic incidents in Ontario schools between October 2023 and January 2025, and nearly half of them were never investigated, and about one in six involved teachers or school staff.

00:07:55.800 The Jewish Educators and Families Association of Canada released a detailed report arguing that anti-Semitism in schools has become systemic and normalized.

00:08:04.780 They tied the program directly to identity-based frameworks like critical race theory and culturally responsive pedagogy, which they said recast Jewish students as oppressors.

00:08:15.400 Jifa also called for reforms across the ministry boards, the Ontario College of Teachers, universities, and unions.

00:08:21.680 And speaking of the Ontario College of Teachers, they too have come under fire, because Lyons' report and parent groups highlighted that the college has issued only 14 disciplinary decisions on anti-Semitism in two decades.

00:08:32.600 Critics, including parents and Jewish advocates, say the regulator relies on educating offenders rather than sanctioning them, leaving Jewish students vulnerable.

00:08:40.720 University of Toronto sociologist Robert Brim, who conducted the survey behind Lyons' report, said anti-Semitism also stemmed from radical anti-Zionist activism, politicized DEI programs, and hostile attitudes among some teachers and students.

00:08:56.540 He warned that equity frameworks often cast Jews as privileged, creating a moral justification for targeting them.

00:09:04.540 But the Toronto District School Board has been singled out even more so.

00:09:08.360 Brim's research found that the TDSB accounted for nearly 40% of all anti-Semitic incidents reported in Ontario schools during the 16th month study window.

00:09:18.400 Incidents ranged from Holocaust denial to teachers wearing from the river to the sea slogans, with administrators often dismissing or downplaying complaints.

00:09:28.920 Together, these findings show that Jewish Canadians and their allies are not only documenting rising incidents, but also criticizing Ontario's schools, boards, and regulators for systemic failures in addressing anti-Semitism while prioritizing other political or ideological agendas.

00:09:45.440 Parents from a Hamilton secondary school started the school year with a letter informing them that their children would be part of a, quote,

00:09:55.660 gradeless learning trial in secondary classrooms.

00:09:58.680 The two-page letter shared with True North described the approach as, quote,

00:10:02.200 graded through observation and conversation, with students expected to become, quote,

00:10:07.220 determiners of their own success.

00:10:09.800 Grade 12 students were told they would be, quote,

00:10:11.880 their own assessors, required to discern their own achievement with the guidance of the teacher and achieve success along the way.

00:10:20.360 The document acknowledged that the approach might be unclear, stating that, quote,

00:10:24.220 sometimes without a grade, students may lack some clarity at first as to how they are doing,

00:10:29.000 but if reflections are completed and conversations are had with their teacher,

00:10:32.720 that disparity in terms of criteria of success should become clear.

00:10:36.300 However, the teacher explained that the course would be, quote,

00:10:39.000 going gradeless but not anti-grade, rather we are pro-feedback, which will initially mean there are no grades.

00:10:45.740 Similar initiatives have already been implemented in other provinces.

00:10:49.080 In 2023, the BC government eliminated traditional letter grades, ABCD, for students in kindergarten through grade 9

00:10:56.680 and introduced a proficiency scale with descriptive terms such as emerging, developing, proficient, and extending.

00:11:04.920 Polling conducted by Leger for the Fraser Institute found that parents across Canada overwhelmingly prefer letter grades.

00:11:12.540 Paige McPherson, Associate Director of Education Policy at the Fraser Institute, said, quote,

00:11:16.820 What I can tell you from our research is that gradeless learning is not in line with parents or what they actually want.

00:11:22.780 98% of Canadian parents say that regular, clear assessment of student performance is important to them.

00:11:29.640 So, Alex, the article mentions similar experiments with curriculum and grades.

00:11:33.980 What were the results of these new experimental forms of learning, and what have critics said about them?

00:11:39.380 Well, the critics are, in my opinion, the most qualified people to speak on this, which is the parents themselves.

00:11:44.720 Children should not be determining how they are graded.

00:11:50.240 I assume that parents are better equipped to know what is good for their children's learning than the children themselves.

00:11:57.980 Otherwise, why don't we just let the children teach themselves?

00:12:00.780 In terms of how this experiment has worked in the past, it's not a typical experiment for elementary or high school students

00:12:08.140 where it is very, very important to ensure that people understand basic fundamentals in math, science, and other fields such as STEM.

00:12:16.140 You need to know how to read, write, and speak, and it is important for you to be graded.

00:12:21.340 In my opinion, I'm not a teacher, and I'm actually not a parent, but in my opinion,

00:12:25.980 it is absolutely essential that children have some benchmark of how they are performing

00:12:29.960 in terms of basic fundamental skills in English, math, and similar fields.

00:12:38.100 But outside of elementary and high schools, in colleges and universities,

00:12:42.740 such as one of the most classic examples is Evergreen State College.

00:12:46.640 So they were one of the first colleges.

00:12:48.100 This actually goes back to the 1960s.

00:12:49.920 They introduced a program where there were no grades, and they continued that program up until present day. 0.93

00:12:55.880 And that college is a clown show.

00:12:58.960 They actually basically had the entire college blew up a few years ago.

00:13:03.880 This was just before President Trump was elected the first time

00:13:06.460 because the students hated the administration, and they said that they were all racist.

00:13:11.540 I believe that gradeless systems are antithetical to the concept of education,

00:13:17.940 even at the university level.

00:13:19.600 At the elementary and high school level, I think it's almost a form of child abuse.

00:13:25.880 That's it for today, folks.

00:13:27.720 Thanks for tuning in.

00:13:28.820 You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify.

00:13:34.020 Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - September 08, 2025

Rustad clarified foreign worker program position

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