Burger King Offers $48K for Manager Role, But Experts Argue Foreign Labor Isn’t the Solution

A job listing at a Burger King in the Toronto area has sparked debate, with experts questioning whether the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program is being used to sidestep offering higher wages to Canadians.

On September 25, a Burger King in Mississauga, Ontario, posted an opening for a restaurant manager on the federal government’s job bank. The post raised concerns online after some users noted a banner stating, “This employer has applied for a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to hire a foreign worker to fill labour or skills shortages on a temporary basis.” This suggests that the employer, unable to find a local candidate, has requested government approval to bring in foreign workers.

A Burger King spokesperson explained to Global News that the listing refers to one or more management roles in the Mississauga area, which had remained unfilled for months despite being advertised across various employment platforms. The position offers an annual salary of $48,000, which is roughly $25 per hour, with hours listed as “Day, Evening, Night, Weekend, Early Morning, Morning.”

In August, the federal government introduced new restrictions to the TFW program, limiting the hiring of low-wage temporary foreign workers in regions where unemployment exceeds six percent. Mississauga, part of the Greater Toronto Area, has an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent. Under the new rules, a low-wage job is defined as one that pays below the provincial median wage, and businesses are capped at hiring no more than 10 percent of their workforce from the TFW program’s low-wage stream. The maximum employment duration has also been cut from two years to one.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the program’s role in supporting the post-pandemic economic recovery, but emphasized that with inflation easing and employment rising, the need for temporary foreign labor has diminished. “We need Canadian businesses to invest in training and technology, rather than relying on low-cost foreign labor,” he said, adding that the system also risks exploiting temporary foreign workers.

The Burger King job posting went live just one day before these new changes took effect.