Outsourcing Canada’s future

Re How to fix the foreign worker program, Opinion April 22 Congratulations to Carol Goar. An excellent piece that explains why this program violates the Charter of Rights. It’s a question of morality, equality and justice. Canada cannot and should not ever treat other vulnerable peoples of the world as inferior. In other words, we must not allow Stephen Harper to implement modern-day slavery. Simple and nonnegotiable. No colonial policies. Similar rights to every worker. Health benefits and equal protections. Regulations with heavy penalties for employers abusing the program. Employment agents feast on the blood, sweat and tears of these temporary workers. It has to have limits. Dilip Samuels, Mississauga Ms. Goar’s suggestion, “stipulate that any employer who brings in a foreign temporary worker must train a Canadian to take over by the end of the contract,” is original and brilliant. Implementing it could eliminate the recycling of temporary foreign workers year in and year out. It could also reduce both the program workers and structural unemployment to very small numbers. Only those employers determined to send jobs outside of Canada would continue to drag down our economy and wage levels, increasing unemployment and poverty. When will they understand how self-defeating that is for their own businesses? Constance Demb, economist (ret.), Toronto

Re Tory wounds self-inflicted, Opinion April 16 Human Resources Minister Diane Finley and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney should step down immediately. We didn’t elect them so they can put Canada 10 years behind or disregard the criteria that the employer must attempt to hire and train available Canadian permanent residents and ensure the migrant worker will be paid substantially the same wage rate. Ken Georgetti wrote an excellent article! Lisa Gentile, London, Ont. and Azra Skapur, Glace Bay, N.S. After being let go in 2009, I became very passionate about outsourcing. The corporation said it was nothing personal; I told them I beg to differ. When you’re on the receiving end of it, it’s very personal. They got to continue on with business as usual; my life, however, was turned upside down. It was a stressful time for me; we had just lost two family members the year before. I lost a pretty good salary, three weeks holidays and benefits. Having to start all over again and pound the pavement for interviews was brutal because I hadn’t done that in seven years. In January 2010 I took a contract position, then landed a permanent job in May 2011. I am just one of many millions who have lost out to corporate greed. Ms Gerry Lenaghan, Brampton

One week has passed since I read Gord Nixon’s attempt at apologizing in an open letter to Canadians for outsourcing 45 IT jobs to India. I am still smokin’ mad. He shamelessly justified his position by hiding behind the law: “We are compliant with the regulations.” Undoubtedly Mr. Nixon is legally right; however, he is morally bankrupt. He outsourced many family incomes for cheaper labour and to avoid paying benefits; this at a time when RBC posted record profits. It appears that Mr. Nixon lacks the empathetic ability to understand his impact on many of these families’ lives. Mr. Nixon lives in a corporate bubble, earning $1 million a month, that will insulate him from a family working hard to make ends meet. The colossal insensitivity to have these employees train their replacements is repugnant beyond imagination. What Mr. Nixon should have done is reinstate those 45 jobs, phoned Stephen Harper and given him an earful about ethical corporate behaviour and told him to stop writing laws that lower the standard of living for all Canadians. Nicholas Kostiak, Tottenham