Local MPP and cabinet minister Monte McNaughton says a joint effort with the Ministry of Agriculture to promote health and safety in the agri-food industry is being very well received.
A series of webinars was launched recently, which McNaughton says has been very well received.
“It’s an all-out effort to ensure that farms and farm workers are kept safe,” McNaughton says. “We know during the first wave of the pandemic, a lot of farm workers were impacted by COVID-19.”
Provincial figures show there are currently about 2000 migrant workers in the region, but that number is expected to balloon to close to 20,000 in the next couple of weeks.
“We are sending out inspectors, especially in southwestern Ontario, to those farms where there’s going to be temporary foreign workers coming,” McNaughton says. “We’re going out proactively to educate farmers and ensure they have safety protocols in place.”
A webinar focusing on Chatham-Kent is set for March 17th.
