Farmers in Niagara are pushing back against a call from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to eliminate the temporary foreign workers program.
Jamie Slingerland is the director of viniculture at Pillitteri Estates Winery.
Slingerland tells 610 CKTB even though Poilievre later claimed that under his plan farmers could have a separate program – that is not what farmers want.
“We’ve got this program that has worked for almost over 50 years. Our workers are an integral part of our farming business. If we did not have temporary foreign workers, there would be almost no fruit, no vegetable, no agriculture production in Canada.”
He went on to say that many Canadian students do not want to do the hard physical work required on the farm.
“Without the temporary foreign workers program the entire wine industry would collapse.”
The government has set a limit of 82,000 temporary foreign workers each year until 2027.
Photo credit: Bonnie Heslop / 610 CKTB NEWS
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