Vegetable prices could explode due to lack of Mexican workers

Hundreds of Mexican temporary foreign workers (TFWs) who struggle to get their visas to come here could jeopardize the start of the season, send vegetable prices through the roof and even push farms into bankruptcy.

“It seems like a disaster. It’s a squabble between two governments, and we are suffering,” sighs Catherine Lefebvre, president of the Association of Market Gardeners of Quebec (APMQ).

“If the first workers cannot arrive, that means there will be repercussions on plantations, harvests and income,” she summarizes.

Some 4,500 Mexican workers are expected by mid-June. However, hundreds of them, expected in April to prepare the harvest, do not yet have their famous papers.

This is because since February 29, Mexican workers must meet the same requirements as those imposed on other Mexican citizens by Canada: have an entry visa. But this process is not so simple for them there.

And the effects are already being felt here.

• Listen to the interview with Catherine Lefebvre, president of the Association of Market Gardeners of Quebec (APMQ) on Alexandre Dubé’s microphone via QUB radio :

“The imposition of visas on Mexican citizens reduces the purchase of plane tickets, forcing Aeromexico to cancel several flights in April and May,” mentions an internal newsletter from the Foundation for Companies in Recruitment of Foreign Agricultural Labor ( FIRM) obtained by The newspaper.

According to Catherine Lefebvre, president of the APMQ, we must urgently have these arms around April 15 or 20 to begin planting in the field, otherwise “there is no solution.”

“The first production impacted will be asparagus, because it must be ready at the beginning of May,” she whispers.

“It’s very worrying”

In Saint-Thomas, in Lanaudière, the owner of Asperges Primera, Mario Rondeau, has been sleeping less well since uncertainty hovers around his workers.

“It’s very worrying. Out of 23, I have 14 who have a visa, five who have paid and who are waiting for a response from the embassy there,” confides the man who has been growing white and purple asparagus for eight years.

“There are canceled flights in April because the planes are less full at Aeromexico. It’s certain that it will be a mess,” shares the one who wrote to his MP to denounce the situation.

“If they arrive two weeks late, the damage will be done,” he says.

Headache

130 kilometers away, in the MRC des Jardins-de-Napierville, Marc-André Van Winden of Fermes Hotte et Van Winden inc., in Napierville, deplores that only half of his 30 Mexican workers are ready to arrive in April as foreseen.

“It’s causing me headaches because we have an early spring. We wanted our workers quickly,” confides the Montérégie farmer.

He has difficulty understanding why Ottawa was able to push the machine during the pandemic, but does not seem capable of doing so now.

“They are the ones who created the problem, so they have the tools to solve it,” says the man who also wears the hat of vice-president of FERME.

Fewer TFWs

Joined by The newspaperImmigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) was not able to answer our questions.

• Listen to the reaction with Me Maxime Lapointe, lawyer specializing in immigration, at the microphone of Alexandre Dubé via QUB radio :

Last Thursday, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) announced that the percentage of authorized temporary foreign workers (TEF) will drop from 30% to 20% next May,

“We have announced our intention to reduce the hiring of temporary foreign workers in Canada and to encourage employers to find the talent they need here, in our country,” indicated the Canadian Minister of Employment, Randy Boissonnault .

A month ago, The newspaper reported that a certain anger was beginning to crystallize among Quebec farmers, after that of their fellow Europeans.