New federal legislation that could quadruple the cost of hiring international performers is causing headaches for some owners of small music venues in Centretown.
The new legislation, put into effect on July 31 by the federal Ministry of Employment and Social Development, imposes higher taxes on most employers using the “Temporary Foreign Workers Program.”
Under the new legislation, venue owners would be forced to pay – per performance – an application fee of $275 per musician and accompanying crew members on top of an existing work permit fee of $150 per person.
For a band of five performers and two road crew members, the owner of a small venue would have to pay $2,975 for one performance not including advertising, equipment and other related expenses.
Prior to the new legislation, only a $150 fee applied to each band member and crew up to a maximum of $450.
In a statement that outlined the new legislation, Employment Minister Jason Kenney said the new regulations are meant to shift the cost of paying for temporary foreign workers from the taxpayer to the employer – or in the case of international musicians playing at non-music venues, owners of bars with small stages.
In Centretown, the legislation is having an adverse affect on at least one coffee shop.
Jeff Stewart, the owner of Pressed Café on Gladstone, says he had to cancel a joint-performance by U.S. jazz musician William Parker and Canadian Ken Aldcroft that was supposed to have been held Sept. 10.
“The government is just treating musicians just like any other temporary foreign worker and the cost of processing their application might make sense if you’re going to hire someone for several months. But for one night, it is prohibitively expensive,” says Stewart.
“So I will just have to stop booking American bands, international bands – and may have to cancel the ones I have currently booked,” he adds.
Stewart suggests that his café might have to be closed on the nights that the U.S. artists were originally intended to play.
Other owners are already looking at alternative methods to get around the legislation.