Sir: Recently, it came out that McDonald’s Restaurants in Canada had hired foreign workers to work for them.
We see a lot of this in Ontario when foreign workers are brought here to work in the summer and harvest season to do the work that Canadians should be given the first opportunity at.
I believe Employment Canada should put those on the job back at least three months before they are needed. There are a lot of people in Chatham-Kent that would be happy to even get part-time or seasonal work with the job situation here.
Jack Long
Chatham
I'm sure there are many farmers out there that really want to post comments on your opinion but are afraid to speak up.
When I started growing vegetables over thirty years ago I was Gung Ho and said I wouldn't bring in offshore labour because I would find Canadians to do the work and I would work with them. Apparently the farmers that were employing Mexican and Jamaican workers at that time had already experienced the issues before I came along. Although there were a very few people from our area willing to do this type of work I would treck off to Northern Quebec each winter to recruit workers. This worked for a while but between bailing workers out of jail and breaking up fights we had to give up on them. We have always hired local people first. Last year not one local person even applied for a job on our farm. This year after an ad in the local paper for 3 months we had a grand total of 5 people apply. We hired all of them but one found something better, one didn't show up the first day and after one week we have one of the 5 left.
We employ 28 Mexican workers, 2 local ladies who we are thankful come back each year, one Quebecer, and one university student, along with 5 family members. Our workers all are paid the minimum wage or more so the myth about getting them cheaper is not true under the farm program.
I can't speak to the situation at McDonalds or at a bank but you're living in a dream world if you think Canadians are remotely interested in doing farm work and farmers can't count on harvesting the crop with Canadians. We need to know that our crops will be harvested every day.
Another comment we hear fro the "Do Gooders" is we should just pay more then we would find more workers. I doubt that you offer to pay extra when you buy your groceries or a new car. Most Canadian chain stores have notified their suppliers (farmers like us) that they either will not accept any price increases or some have demanded price decreases so where will the extra come from? The recent minimum wage increase will cost our family farm over $30,000 and we have no way of recouping it.
We have some very appreciative workers that have been with us for 20 years. If they were not available we would be out of business here in Ontario and simply move across the river into Michigan where you and your friends probably shop anyway.