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The Manitoba Co-operator | November 7, 2013
Foreign worker hiring headache?
BRIEFS
Churchill enjoys busy shipping year By Phil Franz-Warkentin COMMODITY NEWS SERVICE CANADA
Churchill is nearing the end of a busy grainshipping season, with the tonnage moving through the northern port expected to come in well above the previous year. “We’ll be wrapping up in the next 10 to 12 days,” Darcy Brede, president and chief operating officer of OmniTRAX, said last week. More than 500,000 tonnes of grain and oilseeds had moved through the port as of the end of October, and the final tally should exceed 600,000 tonnes, said Brede. That compares to 460,000 tonnes last year and the fiveyear average of about 550,000. October’s shipments of 270,000 tonnes would likely set a monthly record, he added. Wheat accounted for most of the grain loaded during the season, with some durum and canola also moving, said Brede. Following the demise the Canadian Wheat Board’s single desk in 2012, Ottawa set up the $25-million, five-year Churchill Port Utilization Program to encourage shipments. Five companies used the port this year, and while the CWB is still a major customer, Richardson International was the biggest shipper this year, said Brede. “The logistics are a little more intense because there are more customers,” said Brede. “But when it comes to operations, we love problems like that.” Aside from grain movement, the shipping season also included three vessels loaded with resupply shipments for the northern territory of Nunavut, said Brede. Potential exports of crude oil are still being investigated, he said, and many potential customers have expressed interest as the port has good access to the European market, said Brede. Stakeholder meetings are currently taking place, and a test shipment will likely take place in 2014. A test run originally set for this fall was postponed in order to allow for further consultations.
Farm labour shortages continue to be a problem across Canada and especially on the Prairies where oil dollars lure workers away from farms By Shannon VanRaes CO-OPERATOR STAFF
B
ill Martin’s phone has been ringing off the hook. The vice-president of Saskatoonbased Farmers of North America got 30 calls in the first two days after his organization launched a new initiative last month to streamline the process of getting temporary foreign workers. “Members started calling in immediately after receiving notifications,” said Martin. “The feeling I had was kind of, ‘Oh, we’ve hit a sensitive spot here.’” Prairie farmers have been scrambling for years to find and retain workers, many of whom are lured away by high wages in the oilpatch. “The labour situation has become more difficult in recent years,” Martin said. “Farmers just can’t compete with oil money. They just can’t do it.” After surveying their members and hearing the challenges they faced, the company looked for a business part-
ner adept at navigating the regulations around temporary foreign workers. It has now joined forces with International Labour Canada, a company that brings in workers from areas in Eastern Europe, such as Ukraine, as well as from Ireland. But it’s not cheap — with the fee typically running about $4,000 per worker. Nor can you expect to save on wages, which range from $14 to $34 an hour, minus some expenses. “To be clear, this is not an inexpensive option for farmers,” Martin said. “Anyone who might claim Canadian farmers want to use the program to get cheap labour are either misinformed or flatly malicious.” But given the current labour shortage, farmers don’t have much choice, he said. The Canadian Federation of Agriculture estimates the country is short by roughly 30,000 seasonal farm workers, and the federal government also recognizes the problem. But the regulatory burden is daunting. “You know, Immigration Canada, and Employment Canada may ver y well
“I’ve run across numerous examples of farmers telling me that, ‘Yeah, we’ve tried this before. We’ve tried to do it on our own and we’ve spent three years trying to jump through the hoops, and we ultimately gave up in frustration.’”
BILL MARTIN
say that this is a simple process... but it’s not,” Martin said. “I’ve run across numerous examples of farmers telling me that, ‘Yeah, we’ve tried this before. We’ve tried to do it on our own and we’ve spent three years trying to jump through the hoops, and we ultimately gave up in frustration.’” shannon.vanraes@fbcpublishing.com
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