Agri-food Keeping the Pressure on the Federal Government Over Worker Shortages

The back page of the March 5 issue of the Hill Times, the twice weekly report on Parliament Hill and the federal government, screamed out the problem bedeviling the agrifood sector

by Alex Binkley – National Newswatch

The full page ad from the Canadian Meat Council welcomed new Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau and Siddka Mithani, the new President of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Then in bold letters it explained that the meat processing sector has 1,700 vacancies across the country it wants to fill with foreign workers because it can’t find Canadians. Just as troubling, it needs to secure permanent residency for 900 workers who came to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). The industry wants them to be able to become Canadian citizens and not be forced to leave the country under current federal rules.

The way the TFWP has worked since changes were implemented by the former Conservative government means meat processing companies cannot meet current and future demands for its products, the ad said.

“MacAulay highlighted the issue shortly before he was moved from the agriculture portfolio”

 

It’s a lament heard across the agrifood industry that’s supposed to be an economic leader for Canada and reach $85 billion in exports by 2025 compared to about $60 billion last year. The problem boils down to a shortage of Canadians willing or able to fill the jobs in the sector and impediments in the federal Employment and Immigration departments to recruiting foreigners who can and making it difficult for these workers to become citizens.

In what turned out to be his final speech as agriculture minister, Lawrence MacAulay said took aim at the problem. “Access to labour is a top concern everywhere I go. I’m working with Employment on it but it’s taking time.”

Later he told reporters that while technology may solve some of the labour shortage problem for farmers and food processors, “I hear over and over about not being able to find workers to fill the jobs. I fully understand this and am working to address the problem.”

While the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council (CAHRC) is running a test project to help farmers cut through the red tape keeping them from hiring foreign workers, a recent article in the Law Times says Labour Market Impact Assessments that the federal government uses to determine whether to approve a Canadian employer’s request for foreign workers is designed to make it almost impossible to bring any in.

The LMIA process was changed by the former government in 2014 and now is used by the Employment Department as “a last resort” source for workers, the article quotes immigration lawyers as saying.

Wennie Lee, principal at immigration law firm Lee and Company, said the LMIAs hamper employers’ ability to respond to skills shortages in certain industries and regions of the country.

What’s need is a simpler, more employer-driven process that incorporates the views of trade associations, unions and other stakeholders and would put Canadian businesses in a better position to compete, she said. Enforcing employer commitments not to lay off domestic workers as a result of foreign hiring could serve as an adequate check.

CAHRC research shows there are about 59,000 unfilled jobs in the agriculture sector and that primary agriculture has the highest industry job vacancy rate of all sectors at 7 per cent.

Without any changes in farm worker recruitment or supply, the worker shortfall could reach 114,000 jobs in 2025.

The agrifood strategy table report released last fall also made a strong case for filling job vacancies when Canadians weren’t available. During its consultations, it found the most widely discussed area needing government action “continues to be increasing the labour force that will be needed in all skill levels and experience necessary for the Canadian agrifood sector to take full advantage of the domestic and global market that eagerly awaits more of Canada’s highly valued agrifood products.”

Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues