Thank you, Madam Chair.
My name is Kathleen Sullivan, CEO of Food and Beverage Canada, a national association representing Canadian food manufacturers. I am joined by my co-chair Daniel Vielfaure.
Food manufacturing is one of Canada's largest and most important industries. Found in every province, this sector is critical to Canada's food sovereignty and economic well-being and in supporting the country's primary agriculture sector.
Throughout COVID-19, food manufacturers have continued to operate, demonstrating their commitment, and that of their workers, to ensuring that Canadians have the food they need. As this work continues, our sector is eyeing the future, ensuring that we have the foundation for recovery, stability and growth. Critical to this is labour. Canada's food manufacturers are, and have been for a number of years, facing a labour crisis. We are the largest manufacturing employer in Canada, with almost 300,000 workers, but we estimate that the sector is short 30,000 workers, or 10% of our workforce, on any given day. By 2025 we expect that number to double.
This morning Food and Beverage Canada released its workforce and recovery action plan, a plan that is focused on addressing the industry's labour needs. As that plan notes, foreign workers are critical to our future and to ensuring that Canadian companies can produce the food that Canadians require.
I'll now turn to Daniel to speak directly to the TFW program.