Canadian agriculture and agri-food consistently punch above their weight. Agriculture and agri-food contribute $111 billion per year – more than $30 million per day – to the Canadian economy, or over six per cent of our GDP. However, there are still more than 16,000 job vacancies on Canadian farms, and this labour crisis is resulting in avoidable financial strain.
With that considered, you would think that smoothing out the regulatory red tape – especially on access to labour for farmers – should be highest priority for federal and provincial governments when the shortage is both critical and chronic, proven with many years of data and evidence. When COVID-19 challenged supply chains, action was taken to secure our food supply, but this level of urgency and priority for the sector appears to have come to an end.
Producers and workers need new solutions
Agriculture is theoretically prioritized in the immigration regulations, but it continues to be squeezed by on all sides. Agriculture and agri-food businesses, and their workers, are getting caught in immigration dragnet of restrictive changes that will reduce Canadian production and processing capacity now and in the future, if not reversed.
Across the country, for years, agriculture agri-food businesses have been vocal about the reality of their workforces: when Canadians do not apply for jobs, programs are needed to support permanent residency for workers, not just the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP). Even getting permits approved under the TFWP Agriculture Stream is an increasing struggle.