editorial viewpoint
Is Farm Labour Exempt From Ontario Works Rules? By Alan Halberstadt *If you have a comment on this topic, please post it under my column in the CITY section of BizXmagazine.com
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nvariably during times of economic strife and widespread unemployment in our region, the call goes out to send the unemployed to work in the greenhouses and vegetable and fruit fields around Kingsville and Leamington. There were various media accounts this spring about migrant workers from Mexico and Jamaica having difficulty crossing the U.S. border due to COVID-19 restrictions. Thankfully, after the government intervened, they were allowed to enter the country, and after 14 day quarantines, they were able to harvest the crops of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers etc. and avert financial disaster for farm and greenhouse owners. There are an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 migrant workers in Essex County, according to Joseph Sbrocchi, General Manager of the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers. The media attention on the crisis prompted some commentators to question why unemployed Ontarians and Canadians apparently won’t do this kind of work. Ontario Works regulations say jobless people must actively seek work in order to continue to receive social assistance benefits. Is there an unwritten rule exempting farm work from that requirement? Our guardians of the public purse didn’t want to touch that hot potato with a 10-foot pole. I left a message for Jelena Payne, City of Windsor’s Commissioner of Community Development and Health Services, requesting a phone interview. Payne’s Assistant called me back and said I needed to pose any questions to the communications branch of Ontario’s Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services. A polite young man named Daniel Schultz from that department asked me to send him the questions. After an email exchange that I felt didn’t answer my core question, I decided to get blunt. “Is there ever the occasion when a social assistance recipient is cut off benefits because he or she is able-bodied and refuses to seek a job, or take a job, in a
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greenhouse or in a vegetable or fruit field in Ontario?” Here is Schultz’s roundabout reply . . . “For the purposes of eligibility for Ontario Works, adults receiving social assistance are required to participate in employment assistance activities to help them find, prepare for and keep a job. These activities are determined on an individual basis between a client and their caseworker and may include job search, employment placement and job retention services, and access to basic education. Additionally, recipients are required to make reasonable efforts to accept and maintain full-time, part-time, or casual employment if they are physically capable, for the purposes of eligibility.” Next I called Sbrocchi, who is based in Leamington. “Historically, Ontarians have not wanted to do seasonal work,” he understated. When I asked him if farm workers are exempt from Ontario Works eligibility rules, he quipped: “You’ll have to ask the government that.” When I told him I already did so, he replied: “The response of Canadians to come forward looking for agricultural jobs is disappointing. Hopefully people will come around, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.” There are starkly different points of view
Ah, the bounty of the county! Pictured are SUNSET Angel Sweet grape tomatoes from Mastronardi Produce Ltd. of Kingsville, the largest vegetable greenhouse operator in North America. Photo courtesy of Mastronardi Produce Ltd.
B I Z X M A G A Z IN E • M A Y / J U N E 2 0 2 0
While jobless Canadians spurn farm work, foreign workers like this Jamaican man toiling in an Essex County greenhouse, treasure our jobs like manna from heaven. Photo courtesy of a local greenhouse grower.
on this issue. The old school chalks it up to a culture that is too soft, catering to a lazy younger generation with an aversion to hard labour, or labour of any kind. In researching this topic, I heard tales about Canadians showing up to work in a field in the morning and leaving at noon, not even bothering to come back to pick up their pay. Unreliable conduct like that can be disastrous for farmers working on a limited timeline to successfully harvest their crops. In this pandemic era, why would an unemployed person take a job on a farm when he/she can sit at home and collect $2,000 a month (this was allowed during a certain time frame) from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). On the other hand, in normal times, a single person on social assistance in Ontario is paid only $656 a month. A couple with two children gets $1,173. The intent of Ontario Works is to help residents find employment, develop job skills and get financial help with necessities while they look for work. A temporary worker in Ontario receives a minimum wage of $14 an hour, with free lodging and one trip into town a week. Sbrocchi says migrants, many of whom have been coming to Essex County for decades, push hard to work 55 hours a week or more in our greenhouses or fields. He tells the story of a conversation he had with one Mexican worker recently, who has been coming back for nine years to help feed his family back home and send his son to law school.
