Tim Hortons Says It Will Hire 10,000 Local Workers Amid Criticism of Temporary Foreign Worker Use

A Tim Horton logo is pictured in Montreal on June 21, 2016. The Canadian Press/Paul Chiasson

Tim Hortons says it will hire 10,000 local workers as it announced new locations across Canada amid criticism of its reliance on temporary foreign workers.

The company hosted 400 local hiring events in March and April and will hold more throughout the year, it said on May 25.

Currently, about 4,000 Tim Hortons employees out of the 110,000 nationwide were hired through Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program, the company says, adding that this was done amid a labour shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“However, today in 2026, with high youth unemployment nationally, lobbying for expanded access is no longer necessary,“ it says. ”In fact, our restaurant owners’ use of the program has already declined steadily since 2024.”

Tim Hortons has attracted controversy in recent years for its reliance on the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Program, and the Conservative Party of Canada has accused the company of overusing the program.

“Companies like Tim Hortons, the once beloved coffee shop that gave a first paycheque to countless Canadian teens, have hired an almost unimaginable number of TFWs – 1,131 percent more for Tim Hortons over just four years alone,” the party said in a press release in September last year, calling for an end to the program.

The company has defended its hiring practices in the past, saying that while the vast majority of its employees are hired locally, “in some smaller and rural communities, there are simply not enough local applicants for open positions.”

Tim Hortons’ announcement of its hiring campaign is the company’s second major news release in just three days, soon after Dunkin' Donuts announced it’s returning to Canada. On May 22, Tim Hortons announced that it’s renovating 400 locations and opening 60 new ones.

The company said its Canadian franchise owners are investing $270 million, in addition to a Tim Hortons corporate investment of $130 million, in a bid to “create meaningful, ongoing work for local and regional tradespeople.”

Meanwhile, Dunkin' Donuts, which left Canada in 2018, says it will return in late 2026 or early 2027 through a master franchising agreement with Canadian restaurant operator Foodtastic.

Tim Hortons and its parent company Restaurant Brands International Inc. lobbied several members of Parliament and staff from various federal departments in October 2025, the government’s Registry of Lobbyists shows.

They met with Marc Miller, now Canada’s minister of Canadian identity and culture and minister responsible for official languages, who at the time was immigration minister; Jenna Sudds, who was then families minister; and Gerard Deltell, a Conservative MP.

A May 11 update to the registry shows that Tim Hortons’ lobbying around the Temporary Foreign Worker Program focused on the number of temporary foreign workers allowed into Canada, application fees, fair access and red tape in the application process for business, pathways to permanent residency, and fair labour market opinion criteria.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program was formally introduced in 1973 to allow employers to fill short-term labour shortages with foreign workers when qualified Canadians were unavailable.

Originally focused on high-skilled positions and seasonal agricultural work, the program expanded significantly over the following decades into sectors including hospitality, food service, construction, and caregiving.

In recent years, it has faced growing political scrutiny amid concerns over wage suppression, housing pressures, and employer dependence on temporary labour.

Critics argue that greater reliance on the program may suppress wages and reduce incentives to hire Canadian workers, particularly amid labour shortages and rising youth unemployment.