Why some young Albertans are leaving the province

Tue., October 12, 2021

While Jason Kenney's government has often touted jobs as part of its mandate, critics say a focus on fossil fuel development, potentially at the expense of other sectors, has not impressed young people in Alberta. More than 15,000 Albertans have left the province in the past five quarters, according to Statistics Canada. (CBC - image credit)More

COVID-19 helped one family in Airdrie, Alta., decide it was time to return to Prince Edward Island after a decade of experiencing the Alberta Advantage.

"It's not necessarily a great environment here," Alicia Dowell told CBC's Calgary Eyeopener, referring to the culture and politics of the province. "I managed to find a job back at home that was more stable. We took the chance and are going to go for it."

Fresh research and surveys, along with cold, hard statistics, point to a trend of more people leaving the province than coming in. Since April 1 of last year — or the past five consecutive quarters — more than 15,000 people have left Alberta for good, according to Statistics Canada.

Out-migration of Albertans to other provinces has left Alberta with a net loss of more than 5,000 this past quarter alone.

Dowell, a librarian, is part of that trend. She has worked in public libraries and most recently in a public school in Airdrie, a growing community just north of Calgary.

"I had my hours cut to where it wasn't sustainable. I wasn't making any money [after] paying for child care," she said.

Jason Kenney's government has slashed millions of dollars from budgets across the education spectrum, which has led school boards to give pink slips to tens of thousands of workers.

Anis Heydari/CBC

'Me first' is putting family at risk

Rewind 10 years to when Dowell arrived in Alberta.

"It was a bit of a culture shock. It doesn't feel as community-based, it's more individualistic. You know, 'me first,'" she explained. "That was fine and workable, until we are in a pandemic and everyone else's 'me first' is putting me and my family potentially in danger."

Thousands of Albertans have taken to the streets to protest mask and vaccine requirements and protocols, with critics and medical experts pushing back, arguing it places others at increased risk of infection.

So just days ago, Dowell and her young family packed up the car and headed east. And she's not alone.

Noah Arney moved from Calgary to Kamloops, B.C., in June.

"The direction in Alberta isn't a good one," Arney said.

"I work in post-secondary [education]. The changes in the last two years have been quite damaging."

The province cut 5.4 per cent out of post-secondary budgets in the 2021 budget, leaving schools to replace $135 million in funding.

"About 20 per cent of my post-secondary friends have either left the province or the sector," Arney said. "I was thinking, I could stay here and try to support the students, with fewer and fewer [resources] every year, or I could go somewhere else where they aren't making such substantial cuts and laying so many people off."

Submitted by David Finch

Studying the movement of younger Canadians from one province to another has kept one Mount Royal University professor and about 50 students busy with an innovative research project over the past year.

David Finch, a marketing professor at Mount Royal in Calgary, cautions that we are not dealing with current, clear-cut data.

"The data are quite poor. It's dated and we are always playing catch-up. We call it managing through a rearview mirror, which is horrible," Finch said. "What we are seeing from the data now is validating the existing anecdotal evidence."

And what is that anecdotal evidence?

"Young people are leaving the province for a variety of reasons — some tied to employment, some tied to economics or education," Finch said.

27% of young Calgarians say they'll leave within 5 years

ATB Financial weighed in with a report published late last month titled Alberta Losing Residents to B.C.

"About 77,000 people came to Alberta from other provinces and territories between April 2020 and June 2021, while almost 93,000 left, for a net loss of 16,000 residents," wrote deputy ATB chief economist Rob Roach.

"The second quarter of 2021 saw a net outflow of 5,447, the largest loss since 2016."

What's behind the big change in a province known for the Alberta Advantage? A City of Calgary survey last year might offer some insights.

The 2020 Calgary Attitudes and Outlook Survey found that among those in the 18-24 age bracket, 27 per cent said they would likely move away from the province's largest city in about five years.

"In Alberta, there is a perception that there are a lack of diverse career pathways, leading people to look at other parts of Canada or beyond for opportunities in education or employment that may be closer aligned to their career objectives and social values," Finch said. "That's a significant factor."

In the 18-29 demographic that Finch studied, there's also a much greater distrust or discomfort about fossil fuel development, as it relates to the environment and climate change.

"This age group has a very strong, committed perspective to issues associated with the environment, climate and renewable energy. They very much believe that fossil fuels, in a study I saw, are their parents' fuel," he said.

Young people don't share 'Alberta' values

Meanwhile, P.E.I.-bound librarian Dowell says it's about social values, and a lot more.

It's about "being able to move where child care is much cheaper and I don't have to worry about being laid off at the whim of a government," she said. "We know of four other families that have gone recently and others that are expanding their job searches."

Calgary boasts the third-most expensive child care of major Canadian cities, a 2019 report concluded, while Charlottetown is one of the least expensive.

Newly minted Kamloops resident Arney is on the same page, and says remote work during the pandemic has also opened some doors.

"If Calgary isn't seen as a place to be, a place that has a bright future, people are going to choose other places in the country. I don't have to stay here," Arney said.

"If Alberta is cutting salaries and services, if people have the option of leaving, they might."

Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press

Finch says his unique background has helped him understand the challenge Alberta is now facing.

"I am a marketing professor. I look at this as a purchasing decision," he said.

"When people start evaluating options, they want a place that aligns to their values, where they feel they belong. We are starting to see some incongruence with younger people not feeling that the broader values of the province or their city are aligned with their long-term social values and goals.

"That's important, because that's an intangible that will contribute to intent. Social values frame not only their life, but their career prospects and decisions."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.

In Brazil, worst drought in decades felt at gigantic dam

Thu., October 14, 2021,


HERNANDARIAS, Paraguay (AP) — The gigantic Itaipu hydroelectric dam straddling the Brazil-Paraguay border on the vast Parana River, is feeling the heat of Brazil’s worst drought in nine decades.

Sometimes described as one of the world's seven modern wonders, Itaipu's banks, usually lush and green, have turned rocky and bare.

According to Itaipu’s website, 2020 was one of the driest years in the plant’s history, with power output at its lowest level since 1994, a decade after it was inaugurated and when it had less capacity than now.

Production this year will be even lower, by about 15%, said Hugo Zarate, the plant's superintendent.

“We do not expect the crisis of lack of water to be solved before 2022. We will start the year in a rather complicated situation,” Zarate told The Associated Press.

That's devastating for a country where hydroelectric generation accounts for about two-thirds of total installed capacity, and experts are warning of possible electricity shortages in coming months.

President Jair Bolsonaro last month said hydroelectric dam reservoirs were “at the limit of the limit,” and called for Brazilians to turn off a lamp, take cold showers and stop using elevators when possible.

Lawmakers have even discussed bringing back daylight saving time.

Crops have withered while energy costs and food prices are soaring. Zarate noted that the lack of rain “impacts navigation, it impacts fishing, and it impacts tourism."

The Parana River which feeds the Itaipu plant is one of the main commercial waterways in South America, going through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. It has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years. Ships on the river have had to reduce their tonnage to keep navigating.

Reduced water levels are part of natural cycles. But experts have warned human activity is affecting global weather patterns, leading to more frequent extreme events such as severe droughts and floods.

A recent study showed that Brazil, the country with the most freshwater resources on the planet, has lost 15% of its surface water since 1991.

FORGIVE  DEBT GIVE THEM SOVERIGNTY 
Puerto Rico Board Agrees to Remove Pension Cuts in Debt Plan

FREE THEM FROM THE CLUTCHES OF VULTURE CAPITALI$TS

Michelle Kaske
Thu., October 14, 2021



(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico’s financial oversight board agreed to remove proposed public employee pension cuts from a plan to slash the island’s debt, a major concession aimed at securing lawmakers’ approval for a bond restructuring that will put an end to its more than four-year bankruptcy.

The board included a 8.5% reduction to some pension benefits in the debt adjustment plan that it filed to the bankruptcy court in March. Governor Pedro Pierluisi and island legislators have balked at any pension cuts.

The board’s concession was made to end a clash with lawmakers over legislation authorizing new bonds to replace existing debt, an exchange that will allow the government to cut what it owes to investors. Still, the panel maintains Puerto Rico must freeze the teacher and judges pension systems, a move the island’s Senate is trying to block.

“When the legislature and governor enact acceptable legislation, the oversight board will amend the plan to eliminate cuts to the accrued pensions of retired public employees and current employees of the commonwealth,” David Skeel, the board’s chairman, wrote in a letter dated Thursday to Pierluisi and the island’s legislative leaders.

The board last week warned that it may be forced to withdraw its debt restructuring plan from the court if lawmakers pass legislation that includes Senate amendments that would increase the island’s expenses by tens of billions of dollars. Such a step would put court confirmation of the plan at risk and prolong a bankruptcy that began in May 2017.

“While the oversight board continues to have reservations about the impact on the plan, it is prepared to accept the wishes of the elected representatives of the residents of Puerto Rico to the extent it can do so prudently and without failing to carry out its duties under Promesa,” Skeel wrote.

The board’s announcement was welcomed by Pierluisi, who said he has consistently fought against pension cuts and is also seeking to protect funding for the island’s university and its municipalities. The board also agreed to such funding.

“We will continue fostering dialogue and working to get out of bankruptcy and respond to the needs of our people,” he said in a statement Thursday.

While the board has agreed to remove pension cuts from the debt plan, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain may still require reductions to retirement benefits, according to the letter.

Swain is set to hold confirmation hearings next month on the debt plan, which would restructure $33 billion of debt, including $22 billion of bonds. Island lawmakers are under deadline to pass the legislation authorizing the new restructuring bonds before those hearings.

The board’s willingness to remove the proposed retirement reduction from its debt plan could prompt island lawmakers to approve the necessary legislation.

The board also agreed to Senate amendments allocating $500 million annually for five years to the University of Puerto Rico, increasing municipal funding and spending $1 million for a study on the feasibility of extending medical coverage to uninsured residents, according to the letter.

Alitalia makes final flights but ITA buys the Alitalia brand

Thu., October 14, 2021


ROME (AP) — Italy’s bankrupt national airline, Alitalia, made its final flights Thursday before formally folding, marking the end of business for the 74-year-old carrier and an end of an era for Italy.

A flight attendant at Rome's Fiumicino-Leonardo da Vinci Airport thanked passengers for their loyalty before boarding the noon Flight AZ1581 to Cagliari, Sardinia. The last scheduled Alitalia flight was the return from Cagliari, Flight AZ1586, due to land at 11 p.m. Thursday.

Alitalia, which had operated in the red for more than a decade, will be replaced by a new national carrier, ITA, or Italy Air Transport, which launches Friday with a celebratory aircraft emblazoned with a “Born in 2021" across it, news reports said.

But to most ordinary passengers, little may seemingly have changed overnight: On Thursday, ITA completed negotiations to purchase the Alitalia brand and the Alitalia.com domain, paying 90 million euros for the right to be called Alitalia.

The European Union's executive commission has given the go-ahead to a 1.35 billion-euro ($1.58 billion) injection of government funding into the new airline, but ITA only plans to hire around a quarter of the estimated 10,000 Alitalia employees.

In recent weeks, Alitalia workers staged strikes and protests denouncing their treatment and what for many was just the final episode after years of crises. They cast doubt about the viability of the new airline and said its slimmed-down size, workforce, routes and fleet was presumably aimed at making it attractive for a foreign airline to buy.

Union leader Antonio Amoroso told the Foreign Press Association on Thursday that it was “a failed plan from the industrial point of view that doesn’t serve the country, doesn’t serve the community to which an enormous amount of money is asked, that seriously affects the workers.”

Among its routes, ITA plans to operate flights to New York from Milan and Rome, and to Tokyo, Boston and Miami from Rome. European destinations from Rome and Milan’s Linate airport will also include Paris, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Geneva.

The Associated Press

 

Northern Ontario town says $500 land listings boosted house prices, drew families

Thu., October 14, 2021, 

A plan that saw a small town in northern Ontario offer vacant lots for as little as $500 has helped revive its economy, officials said Thursday, drawing dozens of families and more than doubling property values.

Smooth Rock Falls launched the revitalization effort in 2017, years after the community was nearly ruined when its main employer -- a pulp mill -- closed its doors in 2006.

The marketing campaign, which saw the community offer vacant lots for as little as $500 in some cases, has led to shifting attitudes -- from "glum" to hopeful, to something even more exciting -- said Luc Denault, Smooth Rock Falls' chief administrative officer.

"We're beyond hope," he said. "We've seen the changes, and what's a great feeling is we're continuing to see it ongoing."

Sixty families have moved to the community since it started offering the incentives in 2017, officials report -- a boon for the town that had a population of 1,330 in 2016, compared to 1,830 in 2001.

Denault said the municipality relies on the census for its population data, so the number hasn't been updated since things started turning around, but less scientific tracking suggests the community has grown.

People are moving to the town an hour north of Timmins from all over the place, he said. Some came from the Greater Toronto Area and elsewhere in southern Ontario, while others came from as far as Newfoundland.

"Interestingly enough, we have former residents who are coming back as well, as they see progress," Denault said. "We're seeing familiar faces."

New businesses are also opening up, he noted. There are new restaurants, an information technology firm and a diesel maintenance and repair company.

Also exciting, Denault said, is the real estate market.

The average property listing is $137,000 this year, compared to $56,065 in 2017 -- an increase of 144 per cent.

Properties are also selling much faster -- sometimes within days.

"When I started 10 years ago, we were tearing buildings down," Denault said. "We are now selling buildings and they're moving very, very quickly."

There are still some of the ultra-cheap plots of land available from four years ago, he noted.

Would-be landowners purchase the land by tender, and receive 90 per cent of the purchase price back if they construct a home on it within two years.

Denault said most people have foregone that option, instead purchasing land with houses already on it.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Review: Medieval and #MeToo clash in 'The Last Duel'

Wed., October 13, 2021


On its mud-and-blood surface, “The Last Duel” seems like a familiar slog.

The film, directed by Ridley Scott, begins with all the expected medieval trappings: gory battlefields, imposing stone castles, the clop of horses. The skies are gray, the terrain muddy and, considering this film is by the director of “Robin Hood,” “Gladiator” and other brawny. masculine historical epics, you think you know exactly what's in store.

But “The Last Duel" may be one of the only films where the director, himself, is kind of a MacGuffin. The movie, written by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, is not the tale of manly valor that it first appears. “The Last Duel” is more like a medieval tale deconstructed, piece by piece, until its heavily armored male characters and the genre's mythologized nobility are unmasked.

The film, framed like “Rashomon," is told in three chapters repeated from different perspectives. The first, which belongs to Jean de Carrouges (Damon), might have once been the sole version of “The Last Duel.” In 14th century France, de Carrouges is a loyal and valiant soldier for King Charles VI (a childish ruler played by Alex Lawther) who weds a nobleman's daughter, Marguerite (Jodie Comer). He finds his agreed upon dowry, including a handsome parcel of Normandy, has been taken instead as a debt collection by the Count Pierre d'Alençon (Affleck). He in turn awards the land to de Carrouges' friend and fellow warrior Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), infuriating de Carrouges. This starts a rift between de Carrouges and Le Gris, as well as with the count, who strongly favors Le Gris. De Carrouges sees himself as a good and brave man, unfairly treated by his superiors. When he returns from a trip, his wife informs him that she was raped by Le Gris while he was away. De Carrouges vows to bring him to justice.

There are hints in even this straightforward first section of something not quite lining up. Firstly, there are those haircuts. Damon sports a mullet and a half-formed beard that seems hardly fashionable in any century, while Affleck has trim blond locks that would be better suited to a boy band. That they look a little foolish may be intentional.

The second section replays the same time period only as according to Le Gris, and “The Last Duel” grows more interesting. Here, we see De Carrouges as an impetuous soldier, an aggrieved complainer and, well, no fun. He fusses and fumes about honor while Le Gris and the count (Affleck in campy splendor) roll their eyes and spend late nights drinking and bedding women. To Le Gris, his act with Marguerite is bold and rough but driven by love, and perhaps mutual longing — though certainly not consensual.

Damon and Affleck, who last together scripted their breakout, “Good Will Hunting," have said they wrote the first two sections, and handed over the third, of Marguerite's account, to Holofcener, the filmmaker of “Enough Said” and “Lovely and Amazing.” The film, adapted from Eric Jager’s 2004 non-fiction book about the true history, has naturally been building to this definitive account.

But it's not just the conclusion to a he-said-she-said drama. The third section is a wholly different perspective on the Middle Ages, as typically seen in film. Comer takes control of the film as it captures Marguerite's experience being wed in a business transaction, the pressure to birth an heir (something that can only happen, she's told, if she also finds pleasure in sex with her husband) and her savvy stewardship of the castle while De Carrouges is away.

Here, “The Last Duel” seems not at all so long ago, at all. Many of the dueling perspectives of the film — slyly self-aware — reverberate with today's #MeToo struggles. It's tempting to think “The Last Duel” should have just been Marguerite's account, but so much of the film's pleasure is seeing Damon, Affleck and Driver — each playing a type, a sort of guy — gradually dismantle and even lampoon their own charms.

"The Last Duel,” a 20th Century Studios release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for strong violence including sexual assault, sexual content, some graphic nudity, and language. Running time: 152 minutes. Three stars out of four.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Jake Coyle, The Associated Press

RIP

Climate Science Pioneer 

Geert Jan van Oldenborgh Dies

Eric Roston
Thu., October 14, 2021

Respected Dutch climate scientist Geert Jan van Oldenborgh is pictured. (Photo: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute)

(Bloomberg) -- As heat waves, storms, floods, and droughts intensified over the last several years, so has the ability of scientists to estimate how much likelier or worse climate change made each them. Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, a Dutch climate scientist who was a driving force behind this breakthrough work, died Oct. 12 after an eight-year fight against cancer. He was 59.

Just a decade ago, there was a vast disconnect between a public curious about whether greenhouse gases influenced weather and scientists who scoffed at the question. Attending a meeting in 2012 to develop an EU science proposal, van Oldenborgh told colleagues he thought they should add real-time climate analysis to their priorities list.

“And, as in any good story about a new development in science, everybody laughed at me and said it was impossible,” van Oldenborgh said in an interview last month. “It was completely according to the storyline.”

Scientific interest in extreme-event attribution might not have been new at that time, but the work was still nascent and no one had standardized how to do it yet. On the strength of his research and reputation, the EU ended up allotting him a small amount of funding to see if it was possible.

Van Oldenborgh trained in particle physicists and shifted fields when he joined the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in the mid-1990s to study the physics of El Nino, the occasional warming of the equatorial Pacific Ocean that carried global weather consequences. The timing was right. One of the most powerful El Ninos on record helped make 1998 then the hottest year on record. It remains the only year in the 20th century to be included among the 20 hottest years since 1880.

He began publishing climate data and statistical tools to analyze it publicly, on a site called the KNMI Climate Explorer, which over the last two decades has become a critical tool for climate analysis among scientists, students, governments, and private-sector analysts. The project democratized access to climate data around the world. “Which means that in Addis Ababa you can do the exact same analysis on a tiny internet connection that I can do here in the Netherlands,” van Oldenborgh said.

Seven years ago the research nonprofit Climate Central raised funding for a new project called World Weather Attribution, which van Oldenborgh would co-lead with Friederike Otto, then of the University of Oxford. That program pushed the two scientists to accelerate the speed of extreme-event analysis.

Their work turned up all over the recent UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change science report and launched van Oldenborgh and Otto last month on to Time Magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people.

Otto remembered her colleague’s humility and inclusiveness. “One of the most important lessons I have ever learned in my life is work with the people that are fun to work with,” said Otto, a senior lecturer at Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. “It's the most important thing. You can do good things because you just enjoy doing it. Just don't work with people that are not fun.”

Driving World Weather Attribution is a simple goal, to change the way people talk about extreme weather and climate change.

Heidi Cullen, who worked with van Oldenborgh when she was the chief scientist Climate Central, said that his “integrity and dedication to the science, even while battling cancer, inspired all of us and strengthened our commitment to that goal.” She added: “The scientific community has lost a champion, and I lost a personal hero, but his contributions will never be forgotten as that goal was achieved.”

A consummate scientist and civil servant, van Oldenborgh gave an interview to Bloomberg Green for a recent feature on his and Otto’s work with World Weather Attribution. He said he wished that more time would allow him to “continue this kind of work.”

“I may be old-fashioned,” he said. “But I really appreciate being useful for society and making the world a better place.”

Facebook updates harassment policies, says they better protect journalists from hate

The Canadian Association of Journalists said Facebook Inc.'s recent policy to better protect journalists from harassment is a welcome change, but more work needs to be done by the technology sector at large.

Thu., October 14, 2021, 


The global social network company announced earlier this week that journalists will now be considered "involuntary" public figures rather than just public figures.

Facebook said the designation means journalists will be protected from more forms of harassment, such as calls for death, claims about sexual activity or religious identity and female-gendered curses when used in a derogatory way.

"We ... recognize that becoming a public figure isn’t always a choice, and that this fame can increase the risk of bullying and harassment — particularly if the person comes from an underrepresented community, including women, people of colour or the LGBTQ community," said Antigone Davis, Facebook's global head of safety, in a statement announcing the changes.

"Consistent with the commitments made in our corporate human rights policy, we’ll now offer more protections for public figures like journalists and human rights defenders who have become famous involuntarily or because of their work."

The change comes as a former Facebook data scientist testified to U.S. Congress with accusations that the company consistently pursued profits and engagement over promoting safety.

Facebook has pushed back against the whistleblower's claims.

The policy change also comes after the CAJ condemned a Twitter post by the leader of the People's Party of Canada urging his supporters to "play dirty" with specific journalists who had asked about the party’s ties to the far right.

The CAJ said dozens of reporters were inundated with intimidating emails and social media messages threatening violence, sexual assault and death as a result of the tweet by Maxime Bernier.

Many media organizations, including The Canadian Press, condemned harassment against journalists after the incident.

"A strong, diverse media is vital for a well-informed, democratic society," read the statement, which was signed by dozens of Canadian media organizations.

"While criticism is an integral part of journalism and democracy, there can be no tolerance for hate and harassment of journalists or for incitement of attacks on journalists for doing their jobs."

CAJ president Brent Jolly said Thursday that fixing the issue of hate and harassment on social media will be a "marathon exercise" requiring teamwork from tech giants.

"The issue of online hate and harassment directed toward public figures, which includes many of our member journalists, is a comprehensive social problem that will require co-ordinated efforts on the part of many organizations and institutions to resolve," said Jolly.

"As developments over the last few weeks have laid bare, tech companies such as Facebook have a critical role to play in implementing policies and practices that prevent the free flow of hate and harassment to take place on their platforms."

Davis said working with multiple groups was an important part of developing Facebook's strategy around harassment.

"In updating our policies, we consulted a diverse set of global stakeholders including free speech advocates, human rights experts, women’s safety groups ... female politicians and journalists," said Davis.

"We will continue to work with experts and listen to members of our community to ensure our platforms remain safe."

Jolly said that while Facebook's move is a positive step, many in the industry are also calling for social media networks to improve their responsiveness when attacks do happen.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2021.

The Canadian Press

King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (1969) 

FULL ALBUM 

Vinyl Rip

Jul 24, 2021
side one:

 21st Century Schizoid Man (including Mirrors) 0:00

I Talk to the Wind 7:22 

Epitaph (including March for No Reason and Tomorrow and Tomorrow) 13:27 

side two: 

Moonchild (including The Dream and The Illusion) 22:21 

The Court of the Crimson King (including The Return of the Fire Witch and The Dance of the Puppets) 34:35

UK extends visas to overseas butchers amid labor shortage


LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government said Thursday it will allow up to 800 more foreign butchers work in the U.K. on temporary visas, after farmers said a labor shortage in meat processing has caused them to cull thousands of healthy pigs.

Earlier, the pork industry warned that up to 150,000 pigs could be destroyed because a lack of abattoir butchers led to a backlog of pigs ready for slaughter, and farmers were struggling to find space for the animals. It said farmers already had to kill over 6,000 healthy pigs.

The Department of Transport said the temporary visas will allow butchers to travel and work in the U.K. for six months. Officials stressed that the measure is not a long-term solution and that businesses need to pay higher wages and invest in better technology and training for domestic workers instead of relying on overseas labor.

The government also said there will be funding for additional meat storage and other measures to support the industry.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said the measures were in response to a “unique range of pressures on the pig sector over the recent months,” including the coronavirus pandemic and the temporary suspension of approval to export to China for some U.K. pork suppliers.

Tom Bradshaw, vice president of the National Farming Union, said the measures were a “step in the right direction.” He added that it was critical to get overseas butchers to the U.K. as soon as possible.

Britain’s government has been facing a wider labor shortage and supply chain problems brought partly by the pandemic and Britain’s exit from the European Union. Brexit ended the right of EU citizens to live and work visa-free in Britain and has left growing gaps in the economy.

A critical shortage of truck drivers recently led to a fuel supply crisis that left pumps across the country empty for days and traffic chaos as long lines formed outside gas stations. The lack of drivers has also led to gaps on supermarket shelves and logjams at container ports. Retailers have warned that there could be a shortage of turkeys and toys at Christmas.

Officials have already announced that they will issue 5,500 temporary visas for poultry workers and another 5,000 for truck drivers in an attempt to stave off a supply crisis in the run-up to Christmas.

Sylvia Hui, The Associated Press