BERWICK, N.S.- – One of The Maritimes’ most prominent carriers has been told that its temporary foreign worker program has to be put on hold until there’s been an investigation into the company’s hiring practices.

The carrier, Eassons Transport, has not been told what triggered the investigation yet according to media reports, Eassons President Paul Easson will cooperate as much as possible with the government.   

For employers to be eligible to participate in the Temporary Foreign Worker program, they must prove to the Federal Government that they are unable to fill job vacancies with Canadians.  To win that approval, they have to apply for something called a Labour Market Opinion (LMO), which, if granted allows them to hire from abroad.

The Federal Government’s Employment and Social Development Canada office has the power to revoke an LMO under certain conditions if, according to the Federal Department’s website, “there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the employer [in this case Eassons] or group of employers provided false, misleading or inaccurate information in the context of the request for that opinion.”

In other words, somebody has accused Eassons of providing misleading information when it applied for the temporary foreign worker program.

The Employment and Social Development website promises that “Abuse of The Temporary Foreign Worker Program will not be tolerated” and in fact the Government has set up a snitch line to encourage and accept anonymous complains.

According to media reports, Eassons has already hired about a dozen Jamaican workers but will require more in the near future.