With planting season already well underway, some Quebec farmers are scrambling to find workers because of a bureaucratic tie-up.

The annual problem appears to have gotten worse this year, say farmers.

About 4000 Guatemalan workers come to Quebec each year to help plant and harvest. They are supposed to arrive at the beginning of May.

Hundreds of Quebec farmers who sent paperwork in last fall are still awaiting approval.

The paperwork didn't get transferred from Employment and Social Development Canada to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to Guatemala City until too late, creating a backlog for only three people at the Canadian Embassy to process.

“That number is supposed to take four to six weeks to be obtained and they took 16 weeks to deliver it,” said farmer Pascal Forest, who hired a dozen Guatemalans and only four have just arrived.

Forest is counting on the workers to help him with two million crops of wheat and Asian vegetables.

“For sure I won't do that alone,” he said.

An organization called Fondation des Entreprises en Recrutement de Main-d’oeuvre agricole Etrangere (FERME) that helps Quebec employers hire temporary foreign workers says it's a recurring problem.

“We experience what we call ‘Groundhog Day’ every year,” said Denis Hamel of FERME.“If these workers are still in not here two weeks, we can expect huge losses in the field. Fruits, berries and asparaguses and then we’re talking about millions of dollars lost for our farmers.”
 

Hamel visited Ottawa on Monday to ask if there's a way to fast-track workers who have already been here. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says it will look at it and that their current processing time for work permit applications in Guatemala City is within their 60-day standard.


Still, that doesn't explain why it took so long for Employment and Social Development Canada to forward the paperwork to get the first workers to Quebec.

“I was supposed to have six on the first of May. We have the first four today, five weeks later,” said Forest. He is expecting another six Guatemalan workers to arrive in July.