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Niagara Falls
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Editorial: Welcome, farm workers. And an opportunity for NOTL hotels

After days of confusion and mixed messages, the federal government finally announced late last week that seasonal farm workers would be allowed in to Canada to help our farmers and help ensure the security of the country’s food supply.

That is great news on many levels.

However, those workers are required to self-isolate for 14 days and there are some deep concerns about how this will happen.

Normally, these hard-working men and women live in close quarters not far from the fields in which they work. Staying in such close proximity to one another should not be an option now and it is unclear at this writing exactly what the government and the farmers have in mind.

Here’s a novel suggestion, courtesy of NOTL resident Ruth Denyer: This is an opportunity for area hoteliers, who have hundreds of empty rooms, to step up and help the agricultural community. Seasonal workers could fill those rooms.

That doesn’t solve the problem of getting the workers to and from the fields safely, but it would be an important step in the process.

What say NOTL's hotel operators?

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