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It should stick to thatLast updated 1 hour ago You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Whether Tims hires domestic workers or foreign workers, hopefully it continues hiring workers of some kind. No coffee-pouring robots, please. Photo by Darren Makowichuk/PostmediaAmid high youth unemployment and reduced public support for immigration, Tim Hortons committed last week to hire 10,000 new local workers to support regular staff turnover as well as 80 new restaurant openings this year. It cited “an ongoing responsibility to hire locally” and said that while it had lobbied for greater access to the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program because of labour shortages following the pandemic , only 4,000 or 3.6 per cent of its team members in Canada are from the TFW program and its restaurant owners’ use of the program had declined steadily since 2024.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorTims’ announcement comes after significant public blowback for its use of TFWs. Last fall, the Conservative Party of Canada proposed eliminating the TFW program and specifically called out Tims’ expanded TFW hiring for contributing to lower wages and youth employment. Even after Tims’ latest announcement, many right-wingers remain dissatisfied. In Without Diminishment, Alexander Brown argued Tims’ hiring strategy shift is not because it is suddenly interested in hiring Canadians, but because it faces heightened competition from the entry of Dunkin’ (formerly Dunkin’ Donuts) and, besides, the 10,000 hiring target for local workers would include temporary visa holders such as international students.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againAn article in Rebel News pointed out that despite the announcement Tims still has openings for TFWs, and called for a boycott. Tim Hortons “just doesn’t like to hire Canadian citizens,” according to the article, although Tims certainly employs far more Canadian citizens than Rebel News does. “It’s outrageous. With so many people unemployed, with youth unemployment at record levels, and with the summer job becoming a thing of the past, does Tims’ strategy seem ethically or morally right to you?”My answer? Yes, Tims’ hiring strategies seem perfectly fine to me. Tims has no moral obligation to hire local workers, or to hire foreign workers, or even to hire any workers at all if it could get robots to make the doughnuts and pour the coffee more cheaply than humans.The fact is, the social responsibility of Tim Hortons is to increase its profits. As Milton Friedman famously wrote, increasing profits is the “one and only social responsibility of business … so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.” Hiring locally or reducing youth unemployment has nothing to do with it.Reducing youth unemployment is a worthy social goal, but there is no reason to especially burden Tim Hortons with achieving it. Or, more accurately, there is no reason to especially burden Tims’ millions of Canadian customers, who would be forced to pay higher prices, Tims’ many suppliers, who would see their own business reduced, or Tims’ shareholders — which again includes many Canadians. (Rebel News’ claim that Tims “is owned by a Brazilian hedge fund called 3G Capital” is misleading. Tims is headquartered in Canada and owned by Restaurant Brands International, whose brands also include Burger King, Popeye’s, and Firehouse Subs. RBI is publicly traded and 3G Funds only accounts for 21.7 per cent of its ownership.)Right-wingers’ claim that Tims has a special social obligation to reduce youth unemployment recycles the same faulty logic many left-wingers use to push for higher minimum wages. They say fast food restaurants and other employers should be especially burdened to reduce poverty and therefore be forced to pay higher hourly wages. But, apart from the bad economics of such proposals, it is unfair and illogical to say certain businesses and their customers, suppliers and owners have any special obligation to achieve this or that social or political objective. If there is a social objective to be achieved, then everyone — not just certain employers and their customers, suppliers and creditors — should pay to achieve it.If Tim Hortons is there to achieve social or political objectives instead of commercial objectives, it is essentially a government enterprise, not a private enterprise. That would be, as Friedman put it, “pure and unadulterated socialism.” Why should anyone, especially those calling themselves conservatives, want a more socialist coffee sector?I get my coffee from Tim Hortons six days a week (Sunday is my day of Tim Hortons rest) and that is unlikely to change based on its hiring decisions, so long as the quality of the service remains acceptable. Tims’ coffee is cheaper and more convenient than most alternatives. Many shops have better coffee but are much more expensive; some are cheaper but the coffee is worse.Whether Tims hires domestic workers or foreign workers, I do hope it continues hiring workers of some kind. Most of us prefer the human touch. No coffee-pouring robots, please. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.