There are turning points in any campaign and they are often unexpected.
Take the series of heart-wrenching pictures showing a three-year-old Syrian boy named Alan Kurdi in a red T-shirt and blue shorts lying dead in the sand on a beach in Turkey.
His five-year-old brother, Galid, his mother, Reha, and eight other migrants met the same fate after the boat carrying them across the Mediterranean sea capsized.
Only Alan’s father, Abdullah, survived.
Finally there was a human face to a crisis that has been going on for years, as millions of Syrians and Iraqis flee the chaos of their home countries.
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The world was stunned. Canada even more so after reports emerged the young family had been trying to get to Canada. Alan Kurdi’s aunt, Tima, lives in British Columbia.
She had been trying to sponsor her other brother, Mohammad, and his family via a private refugee application. That application was denied in June because of incomplete documentations. The hope was to eventually bring Abdullah’s family to Canada, too.
All of a sudden the refugee crisis in Europe had a Canadian connection and the Canadian government’s humanitarian response was under fire.
The Conservative campaign went into bunker mode. Immigration minister Chris Alexander, who 12 hours before had blamed the national media for the government’s lacklustre response to the crisis, suspended his campaign and returned to Ottawa to be briefed by officials.
Former immigration minister turned defence minister Jason Kenney cancelled an immigration-related announcement.
Prime minister Stephen Harper cancelled a planned event and delayed another to speak about the photo and its Canadian connection. With a lump in his throat, he told reporters the photo had struck a chord with him and his wife, Laureen, who reminisced about their own son, Ben, when he was that age.
The prime minister defended Canada’s record, which includes a commitment to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees this year and another 10,000 over the next three years. The prime minister also reiterated his commitment to the mission against ISIS.
Less than 2,500 Syrian refugees have actually arrived in Canada.
So, what does this global news story have to do with agriculture?
On the surface there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection other than the Canadian Foodgrains Bank announcing it will start collection donations to help Syrian refugees.
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank, which aims to eliminate world hunger by working with farmers in Canada and abroad, said Sept. 3 that its members are planning more projects to help those affected by the conflict.
However, there is now the potential for a conversation about who has been allowed to come to Canada. Politicians are unlikely to break out into a heated debate about the reforms made to the Temporary Foreign Workers Program, but the impact those changes have had on Canadian farms and agribusinesses has been significant.
There has also been a notable shift in policy, favouring highly skilled individuals to the detriment of refugees and low-skilled immigrants.
Programs like Express Entry do nothing for sectors like agriculture looking to bring in labourers and farm workers. Just ask the mushroom sector or the meat packing plants.
A new report, titled Never Home: Legislating Discrimination in Canadian Immigration, released Sept. 2, found Canada’s immigration policy favours temporary workers over permanent residents.
Kenney has dismissed the report’s findings as “complete rubbish.”
Canada’s agriculture sector might disagree. There are no existing federal pathways to permanent residency for low-skilled temporary foreign workers. Processing delays are rampant, while changes to the TFWP have resulted in chronic labour shortages across the industry, an issue farmers want raised in the campaign.
