Parties to the massive Honda EV investment deal reached this week have tacitly acknowledged that foreign workers will be involved in setting up the proposed auto plants, while attempting to downplay an issue already seized upon by the federal Conservatives.
In response to questions throughout the week, federal officials, their provincial counterparts and executives for the automaker have talked about “optimizing” or “maximizing” the number of Canadian jobs — leaving the door open for foreign workers to work on facilities resulting from the historic $15-billion deal.
In an interview on Rosemary Barton Livethat aired Sunday, Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli was more direct, saying that there would be “short-term technical experts” brought in to install equipment and train Ontarians.
“You need the technical experts. They’re going to come in — not only to help install, but train hundreds and then thousands of the employees on how to use the equipment — and then return,” he told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton.
The practice of foreign workers coming in to work on auto plants — which have received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer support over the past several years — erupted into a political issue last fall when it was revealed the NextStar battery plant in Windsor would employ a number of South Koreans. Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) accused the company of sidelining local workers — which NextStar denies — and last week sent a letter asking the prime minister to intervene.
Conservatives this week cited the NextStar case and argued the same thing could happen with Honda.
“We can’t trust that his latest announcement of $5 billion in Canadian taxpayer money [to be split between the province and federal governments] to another large multinational corporation will be any different,” said MP Rick Perkins, the Conservatives’ innovation critic.
WATCH | Ontario minister, Honda CEO on major EV investment:
Ontario gave Honda $2.5B in tax incentives to secure EV deal. Is it worth it?
2 hours ago
Duration 15:20
Jean Marc Leclerc, Honda Canada’s president and CEO, says the $2.5B incentive Ontario gave from the investment tax credit helped secure the deal because it is ‘guaranteed support.’ Vic Fedeli, the province’s economic development minister, says the deal will create a ‘significant’ number of manufacturing jobs at multiple sites in Ontario.
In a statement released Friday, the Conservatives said they would bring up the issue of foreign workers in a parliamentary committee meeting scheduled for Monday.
The NDP has said it wants to see assurances that jobs and projects will stay in Canada.
“We support investments, but we want to see iron-clad guarantees where there will be good jobs for Canadians, for Quebecers,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Montreal this week. “We want to see good jobs that are good-paying union jobs, and we want to see the investments stay in the country.”
Honda in talks with union
Jean Marc Leclerc, the head of Honda Canada, told Barton that he’s reached out to the head of the CBTU to begin a discussion on jobs for Canadian workers and he hoped to reach a memorandum of understanding with them on the issue.
He told CBC Radio’s The House that Honda faced a challenge in meeting production timelines given the current availability of tradespeople in Canada.
“The more we communicate with them to say, ‘Here are the timelines, here are the number of people we need to make this happen,’ we will get to a very good place, I’m very confident,” he said.
In another interview on The House, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne downplayed the concerns about the NextStar plant, noting the foreign workers were just a small contingent of the thousands of workers to be employed there.
“We always have undertakings to maximize Canadian jobs in what we do. But Canadians also understand that sometimes you need to bring specialized workers in order to install some some types of machinery and equipment, and this is not new,” he said.
LISTEN | The state of the EV industry in Canada:
The House18:36Charging up the EV industry
<p>Honda is getting $5 billion in tax credits and subsidies to build an electric vehicle assembly line and an EV battery plant in Ontario. Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne explains why Canada is spending big — and beating out China when it comes to building EV batteries. Then Catherine Cullen talks to Honda Canada’s president and CEO Jean Marc Leclerc about the Canadian EV market.</p>
CBTU said in a statement released earlier this week that it welcomed both the Honda investment and the initial discussions with Honda on an MOU around Canadian workers.
In a separate interview on Rosemary Barton Live, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland also pointed to a statement by Unifor in favour of the deal.
Asked about the prospect of foreign workers involved in the plants, Freeland said she had spoken to Honda executives and was aware of the talks between Honda and the union. “Both sides know how important it is for the government of Canada that there be good-paying union jobs building this project,” she said.
WATCH | Finance minister discusses new EV deal, budget measures:
Capital gains tax is not a ‘punishment,’ Freeland says
3 hours ago
Duration 11:40
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says changes to the capital gains tax are levelling out the playing field and that it’s unfair to describe ‘tax fairness as a punishment.’ Freeland, who is also Canada’s finance minister, also discusses the $15 billion Honda EV deal in Ontario.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
