Evidence of meeting #85 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Ms. Brekveld, the time is up. Please give a short answer. Thank you.
November 28th, 2023 / 4:35 p.m.
Chair, Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council
Rewards for working for a certain employer vary, but I've seen everything from special movie nights to providing transportation, setting up a soccer field, and a volleyball court, so that employees can be happy where they are. That is what agricultural employers do if they want to keep their employees.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you.
Mr. Possberg, as the statements you made were way shorter than four minutes, I'll give you 30 seconds.
Kenton Possberg
Our challenge is that it's seasonal, and it's always going to be seasonal. It's never going to be full time. When the people go home, they have a life at home. They can only do that so often, because they need to start a family, or maybe they have a full-time job, so they're no longer able to come here.
However, it's the same reason we have trouble getting Canadian citizens to take these positions. Everybody wants to drive a tractor or a combine. They drive by, and think that would be a great job, but they can't raise a family on a six-month salary. They're not going to move to rural Saskatchewan.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Thank you very much. I'm sorry. I have to stop you, Mr. Possberg. If you want to submit the answer to Madam Kwan, or Mr. Ali, you can submit that in writing.
With that, I want to thank both of you, on behalf of the committee members, for your contribution and for your time.
The meeting is suspended, so we can go in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]