Employment Minister Jason Kenney gave a spirited defence of the temporary foreign worker program Wednesday during an impromptu speech to a business audience.

Most temporary foreign workers are in highly skilled, well-paying jobs from Canada’s best allies and the world’s most developed countries, and not low-paid workers from poor countries, Kenney said.

The minister sparked a political uproar last month after he issued a surprise moratorium on foreign workers in the restaurant industry, a debate he called a “wrestling match.”

He called the program’s name a “terrible misnomer.”

“It has now become a pejorative expression that effectively refers to any work permit granted to any foreign national coming to Canada for any reason,” Kenney told a conference on North American trade in Ottawa.

He stepped in as keynote speaker on short notice after a U.S. official failed to show.

“When a major Canadian corporation hires someone from abroad into their executive team and they come initially on a work permit, they’re a temporary foreign worker,” he said.

“When the University of Ottawa brings in an expert researcher from France to work on a specialized research project, they’re a temporary foreign worker.”

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