Labour recruitment | Changes to program give an exemption to primary agriculture, but not to the meat sector
DAUPHIN, Man. — A shortage of employees in Canada’s meat sector has caught the government’s attention, and a solution may be in the works.
John Masswohl, director of government and international relations with the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, said the meat processing industry has been struggling to recruit and retain employees following changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in the spring.
He said the federal government has developed a strategy to recruit immigrants for high demand jobs in Canada, which may include immigrants who want to work at Canadian slaughter plants.
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“Where we see the light at the end of the tunnel to resolve this, is something called express entry,” Masswohl said at a CCA town hall meeting in Dauphin Oct. 28.
“The government is going to create a special class (for immigrants) where they identify high-need, skill occupations,” he said.
“I believe we’ve got them to acknowledge (that) industrial butchers fall under that (category).”
Employment and social development minister Jason Kenney introduced changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in June. They included limits on the percentage of foreign employees at a workplace and shortening the length of time a temporary foreign worker can spend in Canada from two years to one.
Kenney altered the program following alleged abuses by fast food restaurants this spring. Three McDonald’s restaurants in British Columbia allegedly gave more shifts to foreign workers, while a restaurant in Weyburn, Sask., fired long-time waitresses to hire foreign labour.
Primary agriculture received an exemption from the changes, but the meat industry did not.
Meat processing companies said the changes would dramatically affect their operations because they cannot hire enough Canadians to staff their slaughter plants.
CCA executive vice-president Dennis Laycraft, who also spoke at the Dauphin meeting, said cattle and hog processing plants on the Prairies are short 600 workers.
Ron Davidson, director of trade and government relations with the Canadian Meat Council, said the Express Entry option is not a done deal.
“At the moment, meat cutters and butchers are excluded from that (program)”, he said, noting it is designed to find economic immigrants for high skill, high demand jobs in Canada.
“We have argued from the beginning … that meat cutters and butchers should be classified as a high demand occupation,” he said.
“We have not received, yet, agreement from officials that this will happen.”
