Recent changes to foreign worker rules from the Government of Canada are having a disproportionate impact on the rural Canadian economy, and the national organizations representing the Canadian meat industry are calling on the government to reconsider these changes.
The Canadian Meat Council, the Canadian Cattle Association, National Cattle Feeders’ Association and the Canadian Pork Council are asking government to restore the Temporary Foreign Worker Program’s Workforce Solution Roadmap, a roadmap introduced, in 2022, to address the industry’s critical labor shortage.
“While we understand the federal government is seized with a housing shortage, temporary foreign workers are not the problem, representing only 9% of the temporary resident population. Meanwhile, the decision to reduce temporary foreign worker numbers is having the precise opposite impact the government says it wants on food affordability in Canada,” the Canadian Pork Council said in a release.
On May 1, producers and processors faced not only the reduction of the 30% cap but a reduction in the time limit for a labor market impact assessment (LMIA)s, the release said. These changes were made without industry consultation, which has resulted in an impact on productivity, competitiveness and levels of food production possible in Canada, the Canadian Pork Council claims.
“Every job unfilled in our barns, in our processing facilities, and in our supply chain has an outsized impact on rural areas because Canada does not have additional people living in these areas who can fill these jobs,” Rene Roy, chair of the Canadian Pork Council, said in a release. “If there’s a shortage of workers in the processing sector, it runs the risk that producers can’t ship their product to market, causing uncertainty for producers and consumers alike. We need to help recruit more new Canadians to rural areas, and creating uncertainty defeats our efforts to convince people to come join our industry.”
Agriculture accounts for almost 10% of Canada’s gross domestic product, and the sector provides one in nine jobs in the Canadian economy.
“Beef producers are integral to Canada’s rural economy and changes to the temporary foreign worker program will increase pressures on our labor challenges,” said Nathan Phinney, president of the Canadian Cattle Association. “It is essential that we have a reliable supply chain for our economic sustainability and ability to produce for Canadians and global consumers. Our trade partners need steady, consistent supply—any disruption can impact our ability to compete on a global scale, while keeping costs down at home.”
The Canadian meat industry urges the government to work on these important issues through advanced consultation and dialogue.
“Industry has proven its case time and again to government, the government decision to reduce the cap did not consider the impact to food security data but was instead a knee-jerk reaction to a housing challenge that our industry is not responsible for,” Chris White, president and CEO of the Canadian Meat Council, said in a release.“ Our industry is mostly located in rural communities, and those communities still depend on these workers to keep our operations going so we can feed Canadians at an affordable price and bring quality Canadian products to the world.”
