Foreign workers: what are the repercussions on the food supply chain?

More than a month after new restrictions on the hiring of temporary foreign workers came into force in Canada, food sector companies in the greater Quebec City region fear that the measures will have an impact on the supply chain .

On the side of DRB Distribution, which has been distributing frozen, refrigerated and dry foods for over 40 years, we are focusing on hiring temporary foreign workers mainly for the recruitment of drivers and warehouse handlers.

Jobs that are extremely necessary to supply grocery stores, convenience stores, restaurants, events and festivals… and jobs for which the basin of Quebec candidates is simply not not there, not availableaccording to Chloé Tanguay, director of human resources at the company.

Currently, around thirty DRB Distribution employees are temporary foreign workers.

To predict the number of workers required to support the growth of the company established in Sainte-Claire, we always planned a year in advancesaid Ms. Tanguay. Today, we are really in uncertainty […] We will have to do better with the team we currently have.

However, she recognizes that having to cover the work to be done with fewer staff comes to put some pressure on our teams.

Which means more working hours, extra time. It’s always more difficult at that time. Our people are more exhausted when we have big periods.

Olymel and the risk of fall into a critical labor retention zone

Following government representations for this purposethe percentage of temporary employees that can be hired by Olymel, a poultry and pork food processing company, fell from 30% to 20% – and not 10% – last spring, recalls Louis Banville , its vice-president of human capital. The company hires on average between 400 and 500 employees per factory, for a total of approximately 12,500 people in Quebec.

Of this number, 1,500 are hired through the temporary foreign worker program. He argues that 597 [d’entre eux] have obtained or are in the process of obtaining their permanent residence.

At 20% […] it complicates our lives, it can make certain issues more difficulthe said.

Even if the company risks falling into a critical labor retention area to adequately ensure product delivery [et] maintain the value chain [ensemble d’activités créatrices de valeur] with producersMr. Banville believes that we should be able to get out of this. THE structures et recruitment and retention strategies should get us through.

However, if the percentage to which Olymel is subject were revised downwards and became less than 20%, we are going to fall into a zone that I would describe as very, very critical and even dangerous for the maintenance of our production programs, our deliveries to consumers, to food chainsbreathes Louis Banville.

In recent years, the company has carried out numerous factory closures, notably that of Vallée-Jonction in December 2023, and that of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu last summer.

Does Mr. Banville fear that such a revision of the percentage will cause other closures in the future?

We can imagine not very pleasant scenarios in certain regions.

A question of sustainability for some

We have employers who are in panicsays Amélie Richer, immigration consultant at ARIMÉ Canada, whose mission is to support employers in hiring foreign labor.

There are people who tell us very clearly that, without temporary foreign workers, it is a question of sustainability for their business. So these are businesses that may be at risk of closing, of losing shifts.

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As for the expected consequences for consumers, she believes that they will have, among other things, less access to fast food, like Tim Hortons, for example. Companies with fewer workers will have to make do with some thinning shifts, according to her.

They tell us, on a very regular basis, that without their temporary foreign workers, evening shifts, night shifts are things that are less possible.

She specifies that it is not for pay less as businesses turn to temporary foreign workers. Absolutely not.

Arguing that wages are regulatedshe wishes deny the discourse of certain detractors who associate temporary foreign workers with labor at a discount, at “cheap labor“.

Employers cannot give foreign workers the salary they want, it is the government that will decidesays Amélie Richer.

With information from Louis-Simon Lapointe and Anne-Sophie Roy