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Wyatt Fullerton and Lukas Grieve weave among pylons and other obstacles that were lined up along the parking lot of Eileen Madsen Primary School on Friday, May 2nd, during the school’s annual bike rodeo. More photos of the weekend can by found on page 9.
PHOTO BY DAN WALTON
Halted foreign worker program disrupting local business DAN WALTON dan@invermerevalleyecho.com Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker program helps employers find staff for tough-to-fill positions, but reports of exploitation and preferential use of the program has suspended the food service sector from taking part, and the suspension is already having an effect locally. Strand’s Old House Restaurant owner Tony Wood is back to square one after losing the chef he had lined up through the program, and will only be able to offer service five days each week instead of seven until a new one is hired. This also means that his restaurant, a renowned local venue for live music, won’t be able to host the same number of shows people have come to expect until that time. “There’s such a shortage of chefs up and down the whole valley,” said Mr.
Wood, who has used the program once Strand’s won’t be participating again before to hire a skilled chef from out- this year as there would be an inadeside the country. “There are no Canadi- quate amount of time for training beans applying for these positions.” fore the influx of summer business. According to a statement by Jason Kootenay-Columbia MP David Wilks Kenney, Minister of Employment and doesn’t know when the suspension will Social Development will not process be lifted, but expects the program to any new or pending Labour Market return with tighter rules. Opinion applications “ U n f o r t u n a t e l y, related to the Food with federal proUnfortunately, with Services Sector, and federal programs, grams, there’s the any unfilled posibroad stroke, bethere’s the broad stroke. tions tied to a previcause it has to go DAVID WILKS ously approved LaMP KOOTENAY-COLUMBIA from coast to coast,” bour Market Opinion Mr. Wilks told The will be suspended until the completion Valley Echo. “Because it’s a national of the ongoing review of the program. program, what’s good for B.C. has to be The food service sector includes kitch- good for Newfoundland as well.” en staff, servers, bartenders and any reCiting Minister Kenney, Mr. Wilks said tail, grocery, or cleaning services. employers may have to increase their It is unclear how long before food ser- employees’ wages to obtain workers vice sector employers can use the pro- within Canada. But many employers gram again, but no matter how soon don’t agree that higher wages is the the program resumes, Mr. Wood said solution.
VJ (Butch) Bishop Owner/Operator 4846 Holland Creek Ridge Rd. Invermere, BC V0A 1K0
“We physically don’t have enough residents to fill all the jobs that need to be filled [in the summer months],” said Justin Atterbury, owner of the Rocky River Grill in Invermere. “Who in Canada would move across the country for a $14 or $15 dollar-an-hour job?” There’s a small increase of people coming to the valley for work in the summer, but a large increase of people wanting services, he said. “If you don’t have some way to offset that, you don’t operate.” For employers in the food service sector, Mr. Atterbury said it’s most challenging to find skilled candidates willing to work flexible hours. “Sure we’ll pay more, but give us the bodies that are qualified to do it,” he said. Mr. Atterbury supports the government’s crackdown on abuse, but doesn’t agree with the suspension of just one industry. See A4
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