Six Tim Hortons restaurants in Eastern Ontario have gone bankrupt, with their operator blaming federal restrictions on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program for contributing to the collapse.
MGB Ventures Inc., which operated franchises in Alexandria, Hawkesbury, Dunvegan, Vankleek Hill and L’Orignal, told Ontario Superior Court that Ottawa’s crackdown reduced its access to foreign labour, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“The Government of Canada significantly restricted Temporary Foreign Worker programs,” the company wrote. “As a result the company employs a lower number of temporary foreign workers.”
Court filings reveal just how heavily some of the restaurants relied on foreign workers.
Of the company’s 156 employees, 41 were temporary foreign workers. At its Alexandria restaurant, 19 of 23 employees — 83 per cent — were foreign workers. At its Dunvegan location, migrant workers accounted for 15 of 25 employees, or 60 per cent.
Management said recruiting workers in the smaller Eastern Ontario communities where it operated was difficult.
“To meet its workforce requirements the company participates in Temporary Foreign Worker programs,” the company told the court.
The operator also faced substantial debts, owing $1.6 million to the Canada Revenue Agency, $1 million to Scotiabank and $600,000 to the Crown-owned Business Development Bank.
Ottawa tightened the TFW program in 2024, restricting low-wage hiring and requiring employers to demonstrate efforts to recruit Canadians and eligible workers already in the country.
The government partially reversed course this year, introducing “targeted, time-limited measures” that allowed restaurants in eligible rural regions to increase their quotas for low-wage temporary foreign workers.
Tim Hortons franchisees had lobbied Ottawa for greater access to foreign labour, warning that tens of thousands of restaurant jobs could otherwise remain vacant.
“Persistent labour shortages continue to limit the restaurant industry’s operational success, forcing businesses to focus on survival rather than expansion,” an October 2025 federal memo quoted operators as saying.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, offered a sharply different assessment after news of the bankruptcies emerged.
“Six Tim Hortons restaurants in Eastern Ontario have gone bankrupt. According to Blacklock’s, their operators blame changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program,” Charlebois wrote on X.
“If your business depends on cheap labour to survive, you need a different business model.”
The bankruptcies come amid months of scrutiny over Tim Hortons’ use of temporary foreign workers.
Earlier this year, the coffee chain pledged to hire 10,000 Canadians after revealing roughly 4,000 of its 110,000 restaurant workers — about 3.6 per cent — held positions under the TFW program.
Tim Hortons defended the hires but said high youth unemployment meant lobbying for expanded access to temporary foreign workers was “no longer necessary.”
Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner disputed that characterization.
“I read the articles and the statement that that chain made, and they’re still asking for temporary foreign workers,” Rempel Garner said in May.
“We know that there is a youth job crisis. We know that there are a lot of Canadians who are out of work.”
The federal government approved more than 100,000 temporary worker visas in the final half of 2024, including positions at fast food restaurants such as Tim Hortons.
The fast food chain has also faced political scrutiny over a separate employment controversy in Grimsby, Ontario, where workers at a franchise were reportedly told their jobs would end during a planned ownership change.
Conservative Niagara West MP Dean Allison publicly challenged the chain over the reports.
“Hey, Tim Hortons, what are you doing in your Grimsby stores?” Allison wrote. “Are you firing all Canadian workers? My constituents, and all of us, need to know what’s happening.”
Tim Hortons responded that a local franchisee was planning to retire and sell the restaurant to another franchisee. The company confirmed employees had initially been told their employment would end when the sale was completed.
“We believe this was a bad outcome,” Tim Hortons said.
The company said the selling franchisee later apologized and provided letters confirming the employees would keep their jobs. The prospective buyer also committed to retaining the existing workforce if the sale proceeded.
In another incident previously reported by Juno News, a manager at a Tim Hortons location allegedly proposed that a 17-year-old Canadian employee marry her adult brother from India as a pathway to permanent residency.
The hiring controversies come as Tim Hortons faces sluggish Canadian sales growth.
Canadian same-store sales grew just 0.1 per cent, down sharply from 3.6 per cent growth a year earlier, while system-wide growth slowed to 0.4 per cent.
Parent company Restaurant Brands International did not blame the TFW controversy, instead pointing to a disappointing promotional calendar.
“While we maintained our leadership positions in coffee, breakfast and baked goods, our calendar didn’t drive the growth we’ve come to expect from Tims and was unable to lap last year’s major product launches,” RBI CEO Josh Kobza told analysts.
Charlebois has separately argued that Tim Hortons faces a more fragmented Canadian coffee market, with consumers becoming less loyal and more price-sensitive as McDonald’s, Starbucks and independent cafés increasingly compete for their business.