The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Canadian companies increased their hiring of temporary foreign workers in the past year, despite a softening labour market and rising unemployment. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that in the last quarter of 2023, the federal government approved employers to fill over 81,000 positions through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program. This was the largest quarter for approvals since Ottawa made several employer-friendly changes to the program in the spring of 2022. For the year, employers were approved to fill about 240,000 job vacancies, an increase of 7.5 per cent from 2022 -- and more than double what was permitted in 2018. The federal government is now trying to clamp down on temporary migration. Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Canadian companies have become "addicted" to temporary foreign labour. Over the past two years, employers have increased their recruitment of cooks, retail clerks and cleaners paid low hourly wage. For example, Joh2Stone -- the operator of several McDonald's franchises in Eastern Ontario -- was approved in the fourth quarter to fill 78 food-service roles. Many Restaurant Brands' Tim Hortons franchises also received approvals.