VALUE CHAIN ROUNDTABLES All Chairs Forum Industry Co-Chairs

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1 Attention: Hon. Minister MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture Hon. Minister Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Hon. Minister Hajdu, Minister of Employment and Labour May 19 th, 2017 Dear Ministers MacAulay, Hussein and Hajdu. At the recent Value Chain All Chairs meeting in Ottawa, we had the opportunity to discuss several issues with the Deputy Ministers. Agriculture Export Goals We are very pleased that the Barton Report has identified Agriculture as one of the opportunity priorities for the Canadian economy. In addition, the recent goal of achieving $75 billion in Agriculture Exports lays a challenge that all Agriculture Sectors can focus on achieving. It is estimated that this will lead to the industry requiring 55,000 more full time employees and this could be a significant obstacle without access to labour. We are excited about working with the Government to take advantage of the trade opportunities that the Government has negotiated and presented to Canadian Industries. To achieve these goals, we need a framework of regulations that does not hamper our ability to grow our businesses. There have been numerous discussions with Government concerning access to labour including the very practical recommendations of the Labour Task Force. The All Chairs Roundtable was another opportunity for Deputy Ministers to hear first-hand about the unique labour shortage problems we face in Agriculture and Agri-food. These unique issues were outlined in the report from the Labour Task Force. The chronic labour shortage in both Agriculture Production and also in the Processing of Agriculture Products, is having a crippling effect on our ability to achieve the above goals. Without concrete Government action aimed at assisting Agriculture and Agriculture Processing in accessing additional labour, the targets will remain a pipe dream.

2 Administrative complications with Government Departments One of the problems we have encountered is that there are four different Government Departments involved in the process. Employment and Social Development Canada set the rules for the Temporary Foreign Worker program. Service Canada assess the Labour Market Impact Assessment applications for approval or denial. Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Canadian assess the individuals named in the Labour Market Impact Assessment applications for suitability to proceed to Canada to fill the position in the application. Canadian Border Services Agency are the final screen for the individual to enter Canada to fill the position in the application. Employment and Social Development Canada and Service Canada used to be one Organization and Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada and Canadian Border Services Agency used to be one Organization. Now that they have been split into four separate organizations, there is little collaboration on individual applications, this results in too many obstacles in the process of filling a vacant position. It is most assuredly preferable for Agribusinesses to hire Canadians to fill these positions. We have worked hard to attract employees from across the Canadian Society, including Aboriginal Groups, Young People and Women. Despite this, we are constantly told by Employment and Social Development Canada that we are not doing enough to hire Canadians, no matter how hard we try. Again, this is detailed more extensively in the Labour Task Force Report. We are very concerned that we are still not able to fill positions that we need, across all sectors of Agriculture. Our only alternative is to rely on immigration to fill these positions when Canadians are not available. Again, please refer to the Labour Task Force Report for details. When we do bring in workers from abroad, they are supporting positions filled by Canadians and helping us to provide further opportunities for Canadian workers who are interested in making a career in Agribusiness. Ensuring access to labour also allows the processing sector to expand their business. We are also supportive of a pathway to Citizenship for foreign workers, that has been promoted by the Government.

3 Compliance of worker programs We understand that a few businesses and individuals have not adhered to the policies and procedures outlined in the immigration and foreign worker programs. We do not tolerate any abuse of the program and want to be sure that Government knows that we do not condone this behavior. The vast majority of businesses using the programs abide by the conditions set out. Penalizing all due to a few not abiding by the rules is not a fair practise. We are having significant trouble understanding why Service Canada continues to deny so many applications while refusing to engage and try to understand the unique challenges that Agriculture and Agri-food face in attracting labour. Not only is this expensive, given the application fees we must pay that are not refunded when applications are denied, but it is also debilitating to our businesses. It prevents us from filling positions for us to work towards achieving the goals set out by Government and in the Barton Report. We understand that the program needs to be monitored and regulated. However, the spirit of the program should be to help businesses achieve their goals and not to prevent businesses from bringing in much needed workers from abroad when necessary. We have tried to work with Employment and Social Development Canada to rectify these issues, but we are either not being heard, or our requests are ignored. One suggestion that has been made is to have a Nexus type program. Once businesses have been approved and recognized as both having a need and following the rules, then there should be an expedited path for them to bring in workers. This would help streamline the process both for Agricultural Businesses with a chronic labour shortage and the Government Departments involved. The Labour Task Force recommended a unique program along these lines that appeared to be ignored. We would also offer that maybe it would be beneficial to have a liaison position to be filled with an Agriculture Representative who works with the different Government Departments involved to find solutions to these issues. We urge all sectors of Government to recognize the unique position of Agriculture and to persuade Service Canada to work with us to resolve these issues.

4 We propose setting up a meeting including three or four of the All Chair Industry Chairs along with Mark Chambers, who headed up the Labour Task Force. We would like this Group to meet with the Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Minister Lawrence MacAulay, the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and citizenship, Hon. Minister Ahmed D. Hussen and the Minister of Employment, Workforce and Labour, Hon. Minister Patty Hajdu. The goal of the meeting would be to work towards finding a resolution to the labour shortages in our Industry. This letter has been approved and agreed to by each of the Industry Chairs of the Canadian Value Roundtables as listed below. Ben Woolley, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Pork Benoit Fontaine, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Poultry Carey Bonnell, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Seafood Daniel Vielfaure, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Food Processors Dennis Laycraft, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Beef Jeff Reed, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Seed Kelly Dobson, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Special Crops Lee Moats, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Pulses Luce Daigneault, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Horticulture Dr. Murray McLaughlin, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Bioproducts Paddy Doherty, Industry Co-Chair, Organic Rick White, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Grains Rod Scarlett, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Bee Health Keith Kuhl, VCRT Industry Co-Chari, Horticulture Andrew Gordanier, VCRT Industry Co-Chair, Sheep cc. Hon.Jeff Leal, Minister of Agriculture, Ontario Hon. Kevin Flynn, Minister of Labour, Ontario Hon. Laurent Lessard, Minister of Agriculture, Quebec Hon. Dominique Vien, Minister of Labour, Quebec Hon. Oneil Carter, Minister of Agriculture, Alberta Hon. Christina Gray, Minister of Labour, Alberta Hon. Norm Letnick, Minister of Agriculture, British Columbia Hon. Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, British Columbia Hon. Lyle Stewart, Minister of Agriculture, Saskatchewan Hon. Don Morgan, Minister of Labour, Saskatchewan Hon. Ralph Eichler, Minister of Agriculture, Manitoba Hon. Cliff Cullen, Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade, Manitoba

5 Hon. Keith Colwell. Minister of Agriculture, Nova Scotia Hon. Kelly Regan, Minister of Labour and Advanced Resources, Nova Scotia Hon. Rick Doucet, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, New Brunswick Hon. Donald Arseneault, Minister of Education and Labour, New Brunswick Hon. Alan McIsaac, Minister of Agriculture and fisheries, PEI Hon. Sonny Gallant, Minister of Workforce and Learning, PEI Hon. Steve Crocker, Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources, Newfoundland Hon. Gerry Byrne, Minister of Education, Skills and Labour, Newfoundland cc. Andrea Lyon, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada John Knubley, Deputy Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Timothy Sargent, Deputy Minister of International Trade Fred Gorrell, Assistant Deputy minister, AAFC France Pegeot, Assistant Deputy Minister, AAFC Tom Rosser, Assistant Deputy Minister, AAFC Strategic Policy Janet Goulding, Director General, Temporary Foreign Worker Program