Ag research supports Government action on labour shortages

The Government of Canada will simplify regulations for foreign worker employees

By Jennifer Jackson 

Canadian producers soon may have less trouble filling vacant jobs on the farm. The federal government plans to simplify the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), following the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council’s (CAHRC) report on job vacancies in the industry.

The CAHRC worked with numerous industry representatives and employers to compile employment data. Report authors found ag labour shortages are likely a result from factors such as strenuous work environments, rural job locations far from city centres, and the seasonal variability of the positions, according to a Dec. 13 release.

Foreign workers have a significant positive impact on the agriculture industry, filling a large percentage of job positions, the report said. With the original TFWP, these workers were required to leave after four years of working in Canada. They could not return to the country for four years.

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“In many ways, the four-year rule put a great deal of uncertainty and instability on both temporary workers and employers,” John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, said in a Dec. 13 Government of Canada release. “We had the sense that it was an unnecessary burden on applicants and employers, and also on officers who process applications.” Recent hearings on the issue confirmed this sense.

This four-year rule will no longer apply to foreign workers in Canada, effective immediately, according to the release.

Also, “the Government will maintain the cap on the proportion of low-wage temporary foreign workers that can be employed at a given worksite at 20 per cent for employers who accessed the program prior to June 20, 2014, and at 10 percent for new users of the Program after that date,” according to the release. “The exemption on the cap for seasonal industries seeking temporary foreign workers for up to 180 days during the 2017 calendar year will be extended until December 31, 2017.”

These changes are optimistic for the industry, according to Portia MacDonald-Dewhirst, executive director of the CAHRC.

“The changes the federal government announced today are good news for agricultural employers and farm and food workers,” she said in the release. “The feedback we received from agricultural stakeholders is very supportive of these changes.”

These advancements “will help alleviate some of the issues that farmers, processors and agricultural employees are facing,” MacDonald-Dewhirst said.

The Government will further assess and change the TFWP in 2017.