This is not the first time the Canadian Meat Council (CMC) has sounded the alarm on the challenges of filling job vacancies in the Canadian meat processing industry
Sept 4 - All of these ongoing international trade negotiation deals and the hard work of Canadian meat associations involved in promoting our food products will all be for not if we don't have the workers required to fill the quotas our industry requires to capitalize on the lucrative future.
Despite the CMC's efforts to draw attention to the problem, our industry continues to deal are with the same problems, the same concerns and no affirmative action plan on the horizon.
It was back in January of this year when the CMC stated that the shortage of butchers, meat cutters and labourers in Canada was curtailing the prospects of the livestock and meat sectors, subsequently restricting the meat industry economy. The problem then was zeroing in on the PC government's immigration program failure to include foreign butchers and meat cutters in the “Express Entry” program.
To date, this is unchanged.
With COOL going the final round with the WTO arbitration meeting in Geneva on September 15th, and the TPP getting closer to being signed, potentially giving Canada the trade jewel that is Japan, and PEDv, Avian flu, and BSE seemingly in low ebb thanks to Canada's second to none bio-security practices, market analysts are predicting we may have to wear shades the future could be so bright. The only set back that could stall all this prosperity is the shortage of workers problem.
Ron Davidson, the director of international trade, government and media relations with the Canadian Meat Council, took to the online interview podium with Bruce Cochrane of FarmScape.ca.
“So it has an impact on our jobs, it has an impact on the livestock producers, it has an impact on the grain farmers, it has a major impact on our rural communities, it has a significant impact on our exports, and it certainly has an impact on the ability of Canadians to choose Canadian produced food.”
Despite lobbying government to devise immigration incentives for skill workers, and processors devising promotion campaigns to attract skilled labour, the ugly truth remains that there is a disturbing number of work stations in processing plants vacant, and no new candidates waiting to fill them.
“People just don't realize how much is at stake,” Davidson said online. “The meat processing industry is the single largest component of the food processing sector in Canada.”
Yet the question remains; what do we do to get that affirmative action plan into action?
