Correct Answer: whether more seasonal farm workers should be admitted
Passage Reference: I believe Ottawa should let more seasonal farm workers into Canada
Why this is correct: The columnist opens by saying Ottawa should let more seasonal farm workers into Canada. But this should happen only once beds, clinics and a safe way to complain are ready. Every view in the column is about that question.
Tips: For a “mainly about” question, read the writer’s first sentence. Then check what every expert in the column keeps coming back to.
Why the other options are wrong:
- how to pick cherries without damaging the trees: Cherries appear only in the columnist’s memory of one summer. The column gives no picking advice.
- why grocery prices differ between provinces: Prices come up only as one effect of unpicked fruit. Provinces are not compared.
- how small towns can attract new doctors: Clinics are mentioned, but nobody discusses how to attract doctors.
Correct Answer: Jarvis Hutchins
Passage Reference: “Bring in crews with nowhere to sleep, and they end up in every basement apartment on Main Street,” he said.
Why this is correct: Jarvis Hutchins warns that crews brought in with nowhere to sleep end up in every basement apartment on Main Street.
Tips: Read each speaker’s quoted words. Ask whose worry is about the whole town, not about one farm or one clinic.
Why the other options are wrong:
- Kiana Nazari: Kiana Nazari wants employers to book inspected housing, but her worry is fruit left unpicked, not crowded town rentals.
- Meenal Gonsalves: Meenal Gonsalves worries about mould and crowding in workers’ housing and the cost to her clinic, not about town apartments filling up.
- Aziz Zubair: Aziz Zubair agrees that town capacity should be published, but his own concern is status and safe complaints for workers.
Correct Answer: audits of fruit left unpicked by late crews
Passage Reference: pointing to audits of crop losses that found tonnes of fruit left on the trees when crews came late
Why this is correct: Nazari wants a higher ceiling and faster visas. She points to audits of crop losses that found tonnes of fruit left on the trees when crews came late.
Tips: First find Nazari’s reason for her view. Then pick the proof that would make that reason stronger.
Why the other options are wrong:
- towns with no rooms left to rent in summer: A shortage of rentals would support Hutchins’s warning about crews with nowhere to sleep, not Nazari’s case for more workers.
- growers who pay crews above the minimum wage: Pay levels are never part of Nazari’s argument, so this would not support her call for a higher ceiling.
- a study showing higher caps raise grocery prices: Nazari says empty orchards raise costs at the checkout, so a study blaming higher caps for prices would work against her.
Correct Answer: certified housing and clinic money would precede more arrivals
Passage Reference: only if housing certificates are issued and clinic funding arrives before the intake numbers go up
Why this is correct: Gonsalves would support Nazari’s higher ceiling only if housing certificates are issued and clinic funding arrives before the intake numbers go up.
Tips: Look for “but only if” in Gonsalves’s lines. Read the whole condition and match it in other words.
Why the other options are wrong:
- arrivals would rise before any inspection: Gonsalves wants the certificates and clinic money first, so arrivals rising first is the opposite of her condition.
- clinics would close during the harvest: Gonsalves wants more clinic funding, not closed clinics.
- workers would pay for their own housing: Gonsalves never says who pays for housing. She wants it certified before more workers come.
Correct Answer: support more workers, but only with safeguards first
Passage Reference: That summer is why my answer is yes, but in the right order.
Why this is correct: The writer says more workers should come, but only after beds, clinic money and a complaint line are in place. In the writer’s words, “my answer is yes, but in the right order.”
Tips: Read the last paragraph, where the writer sums up. Ask what the whole column is trying to get the reader to accept.
Why the other options are wrong:
- call for an end to seasonal work programs: Notice that the writer wants more seasonal workers, not an end to the programs.
- praise growers for treating crews fairly: The writer remembers workers who slept eight to a trailer, so the column does not praise how crews are treated.
- describe a summer spent picking cherries: The cherry summer is one short story that explains the columnist’s view. The main purpose is the argument about safeguards.
Correct Answer: book inspected housing before visas are issued
Passage Reference: She also wants employers to book inspected housing before any visa is issued.
Why this is correct: Nazari, the economist, also wants employers to book inspected housing before any visa is issued.
Tips: The comment calls her the economist, so go back to her lines. Look for the sentence that begins “She also wants”.
Why the other options are wrong:
- pay each crew’s airfare in both directions: Travel costs are never mentioned in the column.
- hire half their pickers from nearby towns: Nazari wants more seasonal workers from abroad. She does not ask for local hiring.
- give every worker a written contract: Nazari never mentions contracts. Her request is about booking inspected housing.
Correct Answer: a confidential line for reporting stolen wages
Passage Reference: a confidential phone line for reporting stolen wages
Why this is correct: Zubair, who advises migrant workers, wants a confidential phone line for reporting stolen wages. That way, speaking up does not cost anyone a place on next year’s crew.
Tips: The comment calls him the workers’ advocate, so find the person who advises migrant workers. Read what he says any expansion must come with.
Why the other options are wrong:
- a union office on every large farm: Zubair never mentions unions. He asks for a confidential phone line and a path to permanent status.
- free English classes each winter: Language classes are never discussed in the column.
- a bonus for finishing the season: No bonus is proposed. Zubair’s concern is safe complaints and status.
Correct Answer: workers sick from mould and crowding
Passage Reference: new arrivals living with mould and crowding that her clinic then has to treat
Why this is correct: Gonsalves describes new arrivals living with mould and crowding that her clinic then has to treat.
Tips: The comment names the nurse’s clinic. Go to her lines and read what her clinic has to treat.
Why the other options are wrong:
- workers hurt by farm machinery: Machinery injuries are never mentioned. Gonsalves talks about housing conditions.
- workers with heat stroke from the fields: Heat is never mentioned. The problems Gonsalves sees come from mould and crowding.
- children of workers who came along: The column never says that workers bring children.
Correct Answer: slept eight to a trailer
Passage Reference: beside men from Jamaica who slept eight to a trailer
Why this is correct: In the last paragraph, the writer remembers picking cherries at sixteen beside men from Jamaica who slept eight to a trailer.
Tips: The comment mentions the men from Jamaica. Look for them in the writer’s own story near the end and read what it says.
Why the other options are wrong:
- picked cherries without pay: The column never says the men were unpaid. It says they slept eight to a trailer and would not have dared to complain.
- left before the season ended: Nothing in the column says the men left early.
- lived in the grower’s own house: The men slept in a trailer, not in the grower’s house.
Correct Answer: about 5,000 pickers
Passage Reference: say they were short about 5,000 pickers this year
Why this is correct: Look at the first paragraph. Growers in British Columbia, Ontario and the Maritimes say they were short about 5,000 pickers this year.
Tips: The blank needs a number and a unit. Check the first paragraph and make sure the unit matches what growers were short of.
Why the other options are wrong:
- about 500 pickers: The column gives a shortage of about 5,000 pickers, ten times this number.
- about 50,000 pickers: The column gives a shortage of about 5,000 pickers, not 50,000.
- about 5,000 tonnes of fruit: The shortage is counted in pickers. Tonnes of fruit appear only in Nazari’s audits, with no number given.
