Temporary Foreign Workers: Film, TV industry assured timely permits

Representatives from the film and TV industry say Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has given them his personal assurance that new rules for temporary foreign workers won’t discourage foreign actors and directors from doing business in Canada.

As CBC News reported on Wednesday, Alexander met with industry representatives to discuss recent changes to Canada’s work permit rules which they say has lumped them into the same category as employers who hire low-skilled workers following an overhaul to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in June.

Temporary foreign worker overhaul imposes limits, hikes inspections
Foreign actors and directors who want to film in Canada have to pay a $1,000 fee per worker and submit to a 15-day waiting period to obtain a work permit. But film and TV producers say the new rules are scaring away U.S. actors and directors, along with hundreds of Canadian jobs that come with those contracts.

David Bouck, the executive producer of Means Of Production, a Vancouver-based company that works with foreign production companies on feature films and television series in Canada, told CBC News on Thursday that Alexander was open to correcting the problem.

Read full story at cbc.ca