Shields voices concern around lack of foreign workers in ag sector
As farmers continue getting their fields ready for the coming season, MP Martin Shields has voiced his concerns around agricultural workers unable to get back into Canada during the pandemic.
During House of Commons debates March 22, Shields rose to speak about how this issue is affecting the Bow River riding.
“It is March, and spring is coming.
We have tractors out. The planting season is already beginning in southern Alberta, but we are short some very skilled agricultural workers. These are not the temporary foreign workers whom we may have seen coming into the Annapolis Valley. These are Mexican and Mennonite people who have status in Canada, but are stranded in Mexico. We need to find a way to support our small businesses in the ag sector with these highly-skilled people who, while back in Mexico, are working on their properties there,” he said. “They have properties, extensive homes and places that they need to leave to come here, but they are stranded in Mexico. In southern Alberta, we probably have 100 families who need to return to Canada to be in our ag sector. This is a critical piece to our ag sector, as it is in many parts. These are not temporary foreign workers like the members might be familiar with in the Annapolis Valley.”
Shields also touched on several other sectors within Alberta that have experienced a tough time during the last 12 months.
He pointed to the tourism sector - which has virtually been on-hold since the beginning of the pandemic last March.
“Another small business sector with a huge issue is the travel agencies. The travel agencies are small, independent businesses. When the airline industry was shut down about a year ago, they had their commissions withdrawn and clawed back by the major airlines. Not only can they not get an income, but they have also lost the commission income they had from the year before,” he continued. “Do they qualify for programs? No. That is another small business sector in our communities suffering greatly because of the clawback from the airlines. The bailouts the government talks about do not help those small business people in our communities.”
Shields doubled back on the ag industry in Alberta, especially focusing on irrigation.
With irrigation continuing to see expansions across the province, Shields also touched on the negative effect the carbon tax will have on the irrigation districts.
“Another one in our ag sector is irrigation. The irrigation industry is huge in part of my riding, where people farm only eight per cent of the arable land, but produce 20 per cent of the agriculture GDP in Alberta. With the $30 in carbon tax in one irrigation district out of the 13, and five in my riding, it has been calculated very precisely they pay a million dollars in carbon tax. That is just in that one irrigation area, and there are 13. With the clean fuel standard carbon tax being increased by 500 per cent now, can my colleagues imagine the tens of millions of dollars that will be leaving those small business operations in my riding?” he asked. “There will be those operations that cannot spend the money in their communities. They cannot buy machinery parts. They are not going to shop at the stores. The ripple effect into the volunteer part of the community is huge. These small businesses need power for irrigation. There is no rebate or exemption for that power; none. These are small businesses whose impact is huge in my riding. They need the support, and yet the government with that 500 per cent increase is taking the money out of the riding with no rebates and no exemptions. This is huge for these small businesses in the Bow River riding.”
In response, Rachel Bendayan, MP for Outremont, Quebec, stated she was in full support of funding for supporting Canadians.
“I hope that at the end of the day we can agree we do need to spend money to support Canadians, and that one, three or five years hence, those same Conservative members are not going to accuse the government of having spent inappropriately. We all know, and are all rising in the House to confirm, the importance of spending to support our economy and our small business owners,” she said.
In a way to highlight was what the federal Liberal government has done over the pandemic, Bendayan pointed out several initiatives to the members.
“Some of the things we have done over the course of the last year are extremely innovative. I think back to the conversations I had with entrepreneurs across the country. They regularly told me thanks to government programs, they were able to keep the lights on, keep their workers employed and pay their rent, for example. All of these programs are supporting businesses in the agricultural sector, in the tourism sector and all sectors of the Canadian economy, and we believe that is very important. Our small businesses employ more than 10.8 million Canadians. They are, by far, our largest employers.”
“It is enormously important for us to continue supporting them. I am thinking particularly of the wage subsidy, which is literally subsidizing the paycheques of Canadians right across the country.”
She also explained a subsidy that has directly benefited small businesses.
“The rent subsidy program, which we recently changed, so our subsidy would go directly to small business owners, has a top-up that covers up to 90 per cent of the rent of small business owners who are under lockdown.”
As far as the tourism industry goes, Bendayan stated the federal government has enacted a few different funds for those businesses affected.
“The member opposite mentioned the travel industry, which of course has been experiencing huge hardships over the last year because of the health and sanitary measures we and the provinces and territories have put in place. In that regard, I will point the member to the regional relief and recovery fund, which is there to support all businesses - but has an earmark specifically for tourism operators.”
Finally, she pointed to the Highly Affected Sectors Credit Availability Program.
“This is a new program, and thanks to the feedback and comments from the tourism sector, we were able to put it in place to provide 100 per cent governmentbacked loans to tourism operators, in particular. I have heard from credit unions and financial institutions there is pick-up on this program and our tourism operators are being supported by it. I will also point out we added an additional $20,000 to our very popular CEBA loan program, which provides loans at a zero per cent interest rate. They include a portion that is nonrefundable, which is, in order words, a grant. That came as a huge relief to small business owners who were concerned about taking on too much debt.”
Unsatisfied with the complete answer, Shields continued to point out the travel limitations for workers looking to get back into Canada.
“The member did not touch on getting skilled workers back to Canada. There are no flights going from Mexico to Canada. What about the clawback of commissions at travel agencies? No, that is not part of the deal the government is talking about with the airlines. This is about people who booked tickets on airlines. It is not the travel part she is talking about. Then there is irrigation and the carbon tax, and the tens of millions of dollars that we are going to lose in our ridings. Small businesses are not going to gain from that. No, she did not touch on that either.”
Before the end of the session, Shields put one more thought into the minds of the members.
“Let me go to one more issue. Several businesses in my riding have had stranded assets for a year because in May, gun legislation was brought in by order in council and it stranded assets for small businesses. They cannot sell them; they are stranded assets. Now the government has gone into the airsoft gun business and we have more stranded assets in businesses. These are small, local businesses, and the government has changed regulations to introduce legislation that leaves their assets stranded.”