However, Canadians simply are not applying for the jobs available, says Denise Ormond of Partners in Pork Farms near Rimbey.

Partners in Pork has therefore relied heavily on foreign workers during the past 15 years, with people from Mexico and the Philippines currently holding 12 out of 22 positions in its facilities, said Ormond in an interview with Prairie Hog Country. Roughly two weeks earlier, she had attended the 2nd-annual Alberta Agriculture Labour Summit, held in Red Deer on Oct. 29.

But getting them here is a lengthy and complicated process, with the rules in continual flux. Service Canada agents themselves sometimes become confused while sorting through all the nuances, she said.

Ormond has felt very lucky with hiring foreign workers in many ways during the past 15 years. Partners in Pork’s foreign workers, who have almost all gained permanent resident status, have chosen to stay with the farm rather than seek other employment and the farm’s applications for new staff have gone rather well, despite the complexity of the process.

“Everything right now is in flux. No one seems to know what the new government is going to do. It’s important not to give up.”

Ormond said it has taken her farm an average of eight to 12 months to hire someone from the Philippines. The process is much quicker for Mexicans – more like three to four months, in part due to provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Complexities continue for newcomers once they arrive on the farm, she says.

“It’s massive – the culture change and the things that we take for granted.”

Most urgent is the need to educate people from warm climates about protecting themselves from cold weather.

“The Filipinos have no concept of what our winter is like, said Ormond.

You can tell them, but they don’t really don’t get it, and they’re in a rush to send their paycheques home to help their families.”

Partners in Pork gives newcomers some money and helps them shop for good quality boots and outerwear to make sure they’re prepared for the cold, ice and snow.

“We need to take them and give them money to start up; not cheap winter boots and cheap winter clothes, because they’ll freeze.

“It’s minus 25 and you’re in flip flops in snow in the ditch. It’s not a good thing. For a lot of them, it was, ‘There’s no snow on the road, why do I need boots?’ But it’s like 29 below, you will still freeze your feet.”

They also need help finding the foods they’re used to, at a reasonable cost.

“Just things like that – it’s huge,” said Ormond.

Others who attended the Labour Conference also expressed similar concerns with potential changes coming with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new government along with the expected influx of 25,000 refugees from Syria.

In a presentation to the Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop, held a day after the Labour Summit, Mark Chambers, senior production manager for Sunterra, said a Labour Task Force was set up in 2013 to help sort out the red tape and lobby on behalf of farmers who need a faster and simpler application process.

Like Ormond, Chambers – now based in Ontario – says there have been no signals about what action the new government has planned.

“For many of you who have used the program, there’s a lot of headaches and frustrations, and even way back in the early 2000s, it’s continually changing and it’s a bit of a headache,” he said.

Canadian farms employ 2.1 million people, representing one in eight (12 per cent) of all jobs, and contribute $100 billion per year to the country’s economy, Chambers said during his presentation.

The three Prairie provinces are well below the national unemployment average of 7.3 per cent, with Alberta standing at 6.5 per cent in October. Saskatchewan and Manitoba were even lower, at 5.3 and 5.7 per cent respectively.

The Labour Task Force was created in response to the difficulty farmers have had in recruiting and retaining workers and the resulting need to recruit from overseas.

The task force filed a report and recommendations in 2014, determining that the Temporary Foreign Workers program is in dire need of some tweaks, including helping farm managers and processors understand how the rules apply and which stream and skill levels apply to their hiring needs, agriculture or otherwise.

Members of the task force sat down in meetings with a variety of officials in Ottawa earlier this year.

“Initially, we had a lot of good feedback . . . and we floated this idea of, OK the temporary workers program has come under a lot of heat. It’s a political hot potato, and we want to try and create something that is specific for Ag,” said Chambers.

The seasonal agriculture program has existed for a number of years. People understand it and it has worked very well.

“Our idea and our concept was, why don’t we create something like that for ag and food, something robust … because we are unique compared to other industries.

“We’re generally (in) rural locations, we deal with livestock, which is 24-7, and we deal with some seasonality issues and we deal with a perishable product,” said Chambers.

“That makes us unique versus industries that are, you know, like Tim Horton’s or McDonald’s. If you can’t buy your cup of coffee, there, it’s not the end of the world.”

Chambers outlined some long-term solutions, including improved and robust pathways to permanent residency, teaching more about food production in schools, promoting and being proud of the agricultural industry and promoting employment opportunities within the industry.

“We need to get to kids. We need to teach them how food is produced, early in life, so they understand that. If we wait until they’re 16 or 17 and they’ve already got their minds made up, or they think they’re experts in everything and they’ve got an opinion on everything, they’ll try and tell us how to do it,” he said.

In Calgary two weeks later, swine consultant Marvin Salomons of Red Deer and immigration consultant Martine Varekamp-Bos of Lacombe presented their views during the Alberta Pork Annual General Meeting on what is happening with the regulations and what may be coming down the tubes.

Salomons echoed Ormond’s and Chamber’s concerns about the level of uncertainty regarding the new government’s intentions.

Labour is in short supply throughout the market place and in a lot of other countries, said Salomons.

“In fact, there is a large number of (Canadians) working outside of Canada,” he said.

“Labour mobility is at record high levels, and we have to ask the question: Can barns and businesses still compete and meet our current labour needs and our future labour needs?”

Salomons said pork’s share in the Canadian economy amounts to $1.6 billion a year, with tremendous growth potential in foreign export and domestic markets.

The question for producers and processors is whether recruiting overseas is the right choice for them.

“You’re going to have to pay a lot of attention to details and it does impact your current work force. If you bring in a foreign worker at a certain wage level, that does impact what the domestic recruits are going to be paid,” said Salomons.

“So finding workers, as I said before, domestic first; that should be our goal, and foreign second. Arm yourself with the right knowledge and know what you’re looking for, how to look and how to advertise your opportunities.”

Farmers need to sell themselves in help wanted ads, demonstrating what they have to offer outside of wages and job descriptions, he said.

“Sit down with your colleagues that are doing a good job of it. They have a lot of tricks and can give you some good advice,” said Salomons.

Varekamp-Bos tackled the nuts and bolts of applying for temporary foreign workers along with the potential consequences of failing to comply with the ever-changing regulations.

She said it helps to focus on a couple of countries, including those where employers have already established some connections.

“Before (workers) are even here, prepare them for what they can expect here. Send them a video of your farm, send a picture of where they’re going to be living. That relationship is vital to the success of, you know, this worker wants to stay with you long term,” said Varekamp-Bos.

“You take away so much anxiety when you show them . . . what their house is going to look like.”

Getting into the nitty gritty, she said a positive Labour Market Impact Assessment gives the employer permission to hire a foreign national.

“The mandate of the federal government is not to give you a positive LMIA: It is to protect the Canadian Labour Market.”

Service Canada will assess your attempts to hire domestically and will then assess the wages, accommodations and other considerations you will provide to workers coming from foreign countries, she said.

“The (Service Canada) officers have a quite a lot of discretion in what they do, and I don’t think they understand all of the programs as well as what the government maybe initially intended when they were put out, so that’s something to deal with.”

That includes understanding which stream the application is being made under and whether or not the exemptions for agricultural workers will be available.

She said she is concerned about a requirement that housing rental charged to farm workers not exceed $30 per week.

“I personally am quite concerned about the $30 rent. It puts a real downward pressure on wages, which with all those reforms that were made back in 2014, what’s the whole point? The concern was the downward pressure on wages. So, I’m quite confused why it’s there. I’m thinking that the idea was to protect the foreign workers, because many in the agriculture sector may be seen as more vulnerable than maybe those that go to a plant.”

That being said, farm employers have some privileges not afforded to other industries, including shorter advertising periods and exemption from some processing fees, she said.

But farmers who meet only the minimum requirements for hiring foreign workers have written a recipe for failure.

They will likely be informed that they have not genuinely proven that they need to hire from outside of the country.

Varekamp-Bos went on to list the mass of details producers must follow when putting their applications together, assuring them that their fees and costs will be lost if they don’t follow all of the rules to the letter and that they may even be fined or blacklisted.

“The new thing that’s coming in on Dec. 1, unless the Liberals decide not to do it … is the administrative monetary penalties, which is quite concerning actually,” said Varekamp-Bos.

Those penalties, should the Liberals adopt them, could run between $500 and $100,000 plus bans, and will be capped at $1 million, she said.

“The officers will have great discretionary powers. So, if you have not kept your records and paid the guy, you definitely will have two violations, and if you have not paid two officers it’s four violations, so it’s a concern.”

Violations will be classified into different types, such as the inability to demonstrate compliance, failing to maintain accurate records, and failing to respond to a request from Service Canada.

Even giving employees a raise, if it falls outside the rules, may result in the employer being found not compliant.

Violations will be assessed on a point system, looking at the type and severity of each violation, from not paying vacation pay to not having a policy in the event that two employs get into a fight.

The fines are set according to the points assessed against the employer.

“The officer has immense discretion as to where you’re going to fall,” said Varekamp-Bos.

“We’re just going to have to see how they’re actually going to execute this. I know that a few of our associations are very, very concerned that no guidelines are available on this . . . so we’re really looking for some guidelines on this.”

Ultimately, Varekamp-Bos said she hopes Trudeau’s government will decide not to activate the AMP program.

“I suggest that you self-audit and create a file for every temporary foreign worker,” she said.

“Stick to what you’ve set out in your plan. Know what you’re signing, check all the check boxes . . . and be aware of the consequences of not complying, especially the financial ones. Good record keeping is absolutely essential.”

Keeping up to date with the regulation changes is also vital, she said.

Darcy Fitzgerald, executive director for Alberta Pork, said in closing the labour presentations that producers should avail themselves of the help and advice Salomons and Varekamp-Bos can provide. Alberta Pork staff will also provide assistance.

“If you need the help, it’s there for you,” said Fitzgerald.  •

— By PHC Staff