More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Canadian meat packers are lobbying the federal government to let them bring in more temporary foreign workers in light of a labour shortage crisis they say has reached an "all-time high."
The Canadian Meat Council -- which represents Canada's federally registered meat packers and processing plants -- said Friday there are more than 4,000 empty butcher stations at meat production facilities countrywide, working out to an average job vacancy rate of more than 10 per cent.
In Quebec, the situation is even more severe, with job vacancy rates approaching 40 per cent, said Canadian Meat Council spokeswoman Marie-France Mackinnon. Alberta plants are also struggling, with vacancy rates hovering near 20 per cent, she said.
"Without a workforce, you can't operate," Mackinnon said, adding several Canadian packing plants were forced to temporarily shut down production lines over the summer due to a shortage of workers.
"It really limits our ability to have made-in-Canada protein. It means more meat is being processed in the U.S. and other countries, and more meat imports for Canadians," she said.
Mackinnon said the industry is asking the federal government to relax the rules governing how many temporary foreign workers meat processing employers can employ at any one time -- from a current cap of 10 to 20 per cent, depending on the facility, to 30 per cent, which was what was allowed under Canada's temporary foreign worker program before it was overhauled by former prime minister Stephen Harper's government in 2014.
"We need a reset to the cap," Mackinnon said. "One of our members is reporting losses of $700,000 per week due to lack of manpower, so nearly $3 million per month."
Labour force shortages have long been an issue for Canada's meat-packing sector, which for years has said it struggles to find Canadians who want to become butchers. Though the jobs offer unionized wage rates and benefit packages, they are also physically demanding, rurally located, and many find them unappealing.
But COVID-19 has worsened an existing problem. Richard Vigneault, spokesperson for Quebec-based pork and poultry processor Olymel, said some workers may have chosen to stay home and rely on government support programs rather than work in the industry during a pandemic.
"It's tough for any manufacturer to find employees right now," Vigneault said. "The competition on the market now is really tight. But we're working very hard to cope with the labour shortage across Canada and we're working on all fronts to be able to operate as normally as possible."
At Cargill Foods, which operates beef processing plants in Guelph, Ont., and High River, Alta., the company is offering signing bonuses and increased base pay in an effort to attract talent, as well as exploring benefits like child care, on-site medical services, and housing support, said company spokesman Daniel Sullivan.
"Of course, we are also looking at what the workplace of the future looks like which will absolutely include more digitalization and automation," Sullivan said in an email.
Cameron Bruett, spokesman for JBS Foods -- which operates a major beef packing plant near Brooks, Alta., -- said the facility is currently operating "as normal" though he acknowledged that labour is a challenge at this time. He said the company is doing a number of things to attract and retain employees, including offering paid community college tuition to workers and their dependants.
In the early days of the pandemic, the Cargill plant at High River became the site of Canada's then-largest outbreak of cases at a single facility, with more than 900 employees getting sick and two worker deaths. An outbreak last spring at the JBS facility near Brooks sickened more than 600 workers and resulted in one death. Olymel has also dealt with significant outbreaks, at locations in both Quebec and Alberta.
However, mass on-site vaccination clinics at the country's largest meat-packing facilities earlier this year have significantly reduced the toll of the virus on the industry's workforce in the last half of 2021.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2021.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Devastating tornadoes tore across parts of eastern Nebraska and northeast Texas Friday as a multi-day severe thunderstorm event ramped up in the central United States, injuring at least three people.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.