Ottawa rolls out new immigration pilot program for agriculture sector

Thestar.com
July 15, 2019
Marco Vigliotti

The federal government is launching a three-year immigration pilot program to fill labour shortages in the agriculture sector, particularly in meat processing and mushroom production.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen made the announcement today at the Maple Leaf Foods’ facility in Mississauga, with the program initially promised in March’s federal budget.

“This pilot is another example of how immigration is helping to grow local economies and creating jobs for Canadians,” Hussen said in a prepared statement. He was joined at the announcement by veteran Liberal MP Rodger Cuzner, who is serving as parliamentary secretary to the minister of employment, workforce development and labour.

Cuzner is not seeking re-election in the fall.

The pilot program aims to attract workers to the field by offering a pathway to permanent residency. Employers seeking to use the pilot will be eligible for a two-year labour market impact assessment, which is often required by the government before hiring foreign workers. A positive assessment would show there is a need to bring in a foreign worker to fill the job.

Temporary foreign workers can begin applying under the pilot in early 2020. It is restricted to a maximum each year of 2,750 so-called principal applicants, plus family members, amounting to 16,500 potential new permanent residents over the course of the program.

In a statement, Mushrooms Canada, which represents mushroom growers and processors, welcomed the rollout of the program, citing high job vacancy numbers on mushroom farms.

A 2017 survey by the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council found that the job vacancy rate for those farms was 9.7 per cent, although Mushrooms Canada says the rate is now 19.3 per cent.

Farms with job vacancies reported throwing out 23 per cent of their crops and a collective $43 million loss in 2018, according to the group.

“For the last decade or more, mushroom growers and other farmers have fought for immigration access for our sector’s farm workers employed in year-round jobs,” Ryan Koeslag, the group’s executive vice-president, said in a statement.

“Agriculture needs immigration access, just like any other sector.”