Employers must currently offer at least the median provincial wage when using the program to bring in staff, but from next month they will be required to pay 20 per cent more, a source told The Canadian Press. (The Canadian Press)

Talking point: Like other streams of the temporary foreign worker program, firms significantly increased uses of the high-wage pathway following the pandemic, according to The Logic’s analysis of data from Employment and Social Development Canada. To fill open positions using the program, employers must first show they haven’t been able to hire anyone domestically. Critics argue they’re simply not paying workers enough to make the jobs attractive. Ottawa’s new requirement for companies to pay more than median wages could address that problem. The federal government has already moved to restrict hiring using the low-wage stream.