Human Resources committee  Good afternoon. I'm Casey Vander Ploeg and I serve as the manager of policy and research with the National Cattle Feeders' Association. NCFA represents cattle feeding operations across Canada. Today's cattle feeding operations are highly sophisticated endeavours and employ a ra

Human Resources committee  It really runs the gamut. If you have a 25,000-head feeding operation, you're looking at an employed force of anywhere between 60 and 70 people. The job descriptions are varied. A pen rider sounds like a fairly simple job but this individual will be on a horse going through the p

Human Resources committee  If it resulted in the closure of a beef plant it would be devastating. That is a potential outcome. If it's not being resolved at the feedlot level, you will see production simply decline because there are not enough workers to carry on production.

Human Resources committee  These jobs are permanent, full-time. It's not seasonal at all. They're permanent and full-time jobs.

Human Resources committee  We've used numerous strategies, from the traditional newspaper and that's giving way to social media. I'll give you a very interesting example. Lyle Miller, who owns Highway 21 Feeders in Acme, Alberta, now says he gets most of his Canadian workers through Facebook. He starts a c

Human Resources committee  On the youth side of things, that's actually a big concern for all of agriculture given the aging workforce in Canadian agriculture. We're reaching out to younger Canadians to be sure. A good part of our recruitment strategy is getting into the schools at the secondary level and

Human Resources committee  The starting wage for an entry level position in a feedlot can range anywhere between $18 and $24 a hour depending on what you're doing. There's a reason for that too. The work is special. You're dealing with a huge investment. The owners of these operations want to train people.

Human Resources committee  That I don't know.

Human Resources committee  I can't comment on that. I could certainly find that out for you and distribute it to the chairman.

Human Resources committee  No.

Human Resources committee  I haven't heard of any cases. These temporary workers who have been tapped by cattle feeders represent a significant investment. Cattle feeders are not interested in temporary workers. They've resorted to the temporary worker program as a matter of last resort. What I've heard

Human Resources committee  My sense, and it's just a sense—so I can ask this question of some of our members as well—is that they do stick around because there are opportunities to move within the industry. A good example is the fellow at Paskal feeders who started in an entry-level position and is now man

Human Resources committee  It's good to see you too.

Human Resources committee  I'm not going to diminish the optics of it, because the optics seem at first glance to be so odd. You have, in the case of Alberta, a dramatic crash in oil and gas, and that is a key part of the provincial economy, so you have a rising provincial unemployment rate. At the same ti

Human Resources committee  Maybe it's a little bit simpler than that to some extent. Here I would refer more to what's going on in meat-packing facilities. It is simply work that many Canadians will not do or do not want to do. You can lead that horse to water, but I'm not strong enough to pull his neck do