International Trade committee  I think the essential point there was for all of us to realize that the signing of a free trade agreement is a fundamental and important first step in terms of gaining market access, but the efforts have to go beyond that. There's been a lot of talk around the committee this afternoon about non-tariff barriers, for example.

International Trade committee  It's a very good question. My crystal ball isn't always very clear on these things, but the industry certainly had its share of black swan events over the last two years, just one after another. They were definitely challenging times for producers. I think one of the most important things here is to understand that to the extent possible our government policies around our trade issues and agriculture in general should help position agriculture to be that credible supplier to the world.

International Trade committee  Good afternoon. I'm Casey Vander Ploeg, and I serve as vice-president of the National Cattle Feeders' Association. I'd like to share three things with the committee this afternoon: first, the general landscape of our beef export trade; second, how that landscape has changed and the role played by the Indo-Pacific in that change; and, third, some recommendations addressing the challenges and opportunities of trade in general and the Indo-Pacific in particular.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Thanks for that question, and I'll be brief. What we're talking about here is building some more permanency into the system. It's realizing that these are not one-off issues that get resolved every time you put an LMIA in or get a worker and a valid work visa. We need to take a more programmatic policy-oriented approach to it.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  The unemployment rate is only one metric. Alberta has very high rates of unemployment, for obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean that, in specific parts of the province, there isn't a huge need for labour. Our jobs are rural. They're outdoors. They're agriculture. They're different.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Jolayne, do you have any thoughts on that?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think one of the interesting things to keep in mind here is that, when you get a group of immigrants together in a community, they start helping each other. Certainly that was my experience as a child growing up in this country. We want to facilitate that, but a lot of it is also organic.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Certainly, that has been very important for the processing side of the industry. Cattle feeders are just as concerned with the labour shortages in our processing and agri-food facilities as we are on farm, because problems at that end of the supply chain trickle down to the farm level, and basically, result in lower farm income.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Go ahead, Jolayne.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'd ask Jolayne about that.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I think that is a very important question and a very important comment. We think—and we've long thought about this too—that we need a long-term, enduring solution for this issue. This is just the first nip of the ringer. Baby-boomer retirements are happening. We think that there is going to be increased pressure to grow the Canadian labour force.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Jolayne mentioned some of the issues we have with the current 90,000, but the concept, the idea, of better improved pathways to permanent residency addresses a critical need that we've been raising on this file for years.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll elaborate very quickly for you. Thank you for that question. Across the country, governments have been raising minimum wages. I remember receiving a call from a reporter about the situation in Alberta and whether we were concerned about that. My answer was that we were not concerned about that at all, because cattle feeders pay way above and beyond minimum wage.

Citizenship and Immigration committee  Jolayne, do you have any thoughts on that?

Citizenship and Immigration committee  I'll be brief. Yes, the processing times, delays, rejected applications and having to resubmit are all part of this frustrating administrivia that employers have to deal with. We've suggested two things that might be changed to help this out. The first is to incorporate a trusted employer status within the temporary foreign worker program, so that those employers who have a good record with foreign workers could get their applications expedited.