If cases of COVID-19 continue to multiply, labour shortages could affect food supplies and undermine Canada’s critical infrastructure, an internal government briefing note obtained by CBC News warns.
If cases of COVID-19 continue to multiply, labour shortages could affect food supplies and undermine Canada’s critical infrastructure, an internal government briefing note obtained by CBC News warns.
The document, prepared by Public Safety Canada, says accelerating rates of illness among Canadians could create labour shortages in essential services.
The two most “pressing” areas of concern, it says, are procurement of medical goods and the stability of the food supply chain.
“These shortages are likely to have the greatest impact in the two sectors mentioned above, as it will affect our ability to provide health care and essential goods, including food, to Canadians,” notes the document.
“Labour shortages could also affect Canada’s critical infrastructure, including power grids, banking and telecommunications and this will further impair Canadians’ quality of life at this difficult time.”
A federal source, speaking on the condition they not be named, said there’s a fear that some workers in essential services, including prison guards, will refuse to come to work for safety reasons.
Canadian Labour Congress president Hassan Yussuff said workers have the right to refuse work if they feel unsafe, although the only resistance he’s seeing on a national scale so far is happening among long-term care workers who don’t have proper safety gear.
He said securing more personal protective equipment could calm fears across a number of sectors.
“I know this is a learning curve. You wouldn’t have thought, and I wouldn’t have thought, that grocery clerks should have personal protective equipment like a mask, or a bus driver,” Yussuff said.
“We have never encountered seeing people in those types of jobs wearing a mask doing their regular duties but because of COVID-19, I think we have to be far more vigilant and I think those workers have every right to request the proper mask and their employer should be able to provide it.
“I know everybody is scrambling to make sure that is the reality. But of course, with the limited availability of products, I’m hoping by a week or two maybe most of this might be solved.”
Food supply concerns grow
Fears about the stability of supply chains are already playing out in parts of the country.
Oceanex Inc., one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s largest shipping companies, said Monday that i