The Rural Voice, 1999-10, Page 22Help wanted
A provincial proposal to have welfare recipients
do farm work for their cheques sounds tempting
but farmers aren't ready to trade in their dependable
offshore workers yet
By Roberta Avery
ATory government plan to
force welfare recipients to
pick Ontario's crops in return
for their monthly cheque isn't
entirely new, according to growers in
Georgian Bay's apple country.
"We've been crown this road
before," says Murray Loucks,
president of 150 -member Georgian
Bay Fruit Growers Inc whose annual
harvest of about 2.5 million bushels
of fruit with a farm gate value of
about $10 -million represents about
25 per cent of Ontario's apple crop.
Since the foreign labour program
began in 1967, attempts have been
made by various governments to get
unemployed people helping with the
harvest.
Over the years buses have .been
arranged to transport people to the
18 THE RURAL VOICE
orchards. The buses used to collect
pickers at the area's two native
reserves and then stop in bigger
centres such as Owen Sound and
Hanover.
"Ridership was so poor there was
no point," says Loucks.
Today the foreign labour program
operates under a "Canadians first"
mandate with growers trying to
recruit Canadians through Human
Resources and Development Canada.
"It's hard work and it's seasonal,
we get very, very little response,"
says Loucks.
His farm is just off Highway 26 in
the Town of the Blue Mountains and
is easily accessible for anyone
looking for work.
"But hardly anyone shows up,"
he says.
Bay Ridge Orchards brings
workers like (from left) Wilfred
Barrett, Orville Linton, Glenray
Thompson, Delroy Witter and
Claston Thomas from Jamaica to
help with the apple harvest.
Pat McCoy at the human
resources centre in Owen Sound says
the jobs are posted all over the
region. "But the response is always
very limited."
Growers would welcome welfare
recipients or anyone else willing to
put in the long hours and make a
commitment to stay for the entire
harvest, whatever the weather, says
Loucks.
It's a sentiment shared by orchard
owner Rob Gardner of Meaford.
"They're welcome here. It's
strenuous work, but if they are ready
and able to do it, we can use them ...
we would be glad to see the money
kept in Canada," he says.
Conservative MPP Toni Skarica
(Wentworth -Burlington), who has the
support of Premier Mike Harris for
his suggestion of replacing the
foreign workers with welfare
recipients calls the situation
"outrageous."
"There are 100,000 able-bodied
people sitting at home drawing