A coalition of Canadian meat-industry organizations is lobbying the federal government to restore pandemic standards for temporary foreign workers.
The regulations were temporarily eased in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now the restrictions on numbers are back in place.
“If there’s a shortage of workers in the processing sector, it runs the risk that producers can’t ship their product to market, causing uncertainty for producers and consumers alike," said René Roy, chairman of the Canadian Pork Council.
"We need to help recruit more new Canadians to rural areas, and creating uncertainty defeats our efforts to convince people to come join our industry,” he said.
On a different matter, the coalition worried about renewed plans to allow country-of-origin labeling for meats in the United States.
"Our concern is the U.S. is 70 per cent of our trading partners. We've worked diligently to harmonize our systems, whether it's our food safety system or growing systems," said Canadian Cattle Association chief executive officer Nathan Phinney.
"It's everything that we stand for, and what we work on. Prescriptive measures like this could potentially hinder it or break it down."
Alberta Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson has promised he'll address the matter with fellow North American officials during an October trade summit.
"We're going to continue to work with them to try to make them reconsider this decision," Sigurdson said.
"It isn't implemented until January of 2026, so we're hoping that they will reconsider this decision."
The coalition is The Canadian Meat Council, the Canadian Cattle Association, National Cattle Feeders’ Association, and the Canadian Pork Council.
