Alberta, as of the last 5 to 10 years, like most of Canada, has seen an influx of Temporary Foreign Workers. For those outside Canada, Temporary workers are brought by businesses to Canada from places such as the Philippines or Mexico to fill low paid positions, generally in restaurants and fast food outlets.
The government's argument is that there are not enough Canadians to fill these jobs. This, of course, is absurd, there are plenty enough Canadians to fill every job in Canada. The problem, of course, is that most of these jobs offer wages and / or circumstance that no Canadian would accept; things like the Charter of Rights, basic human dignity, a living wage, are frequently disregarded in these positions. Companies that offer these "perks" don't need to hire Temporary Foreign Workers.
In a free market economy, such as the one that Stephen Harper proposes he offers Canada (the motto of Conservatives generally being "less government, more business"), if you are unable to find staff willing to work for the wages or conditions you offer you:
a) raise the price of your product
and, with the profits -
b) pay your staff more.
and/or
c) Improve the conditions they work under (hours, benefits, competent and trained management), etc,
This is called "Free Enterprise", or "Capitalism". Unfortunately, as the system stands now we are importing people from various places to:
a) Work for less than a living wage, or for a wage that most naturalized Canadians find unacceptable
b) Work for employers that cannot retain Canadian employees, due to "management style" or other issues. (In the last 2 jobs I had where TFW formed the backbone of the restaurants, they were working in environments that in any major corporation would result in a 7 figure lawsuit and out-of-court settlements).
As the situation stands, the Temporary Foreign Worker provisions are being abused by businesses that refuse to compete in a free market ( - really, wouldn't you pay 25 cents more for your McBurger/Tim Horton's coffee to know that your server was being paid a living wage and working in a respectful environment?). Face it, all businesses in the service sector would have to raise prices, as most of them are abusing the TFW provisions, so any arguments about "being competitive" are moot. The TFW provision is generally abused by employers and businesses looking to pay lower wages, no benefits, and pocket the profits.
The word for this is not capitalism, it's "Exploitation".
Summing it up, if your business model depends on low wages and dire circumstance to maintain it's profitability, maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't be in business.