PM accuses Poilievre of opposing EV deals

Trudeau deflects from claims construction jobs at Windsor battery plant going to foreign workers

Pressed about claims that some construction jobs at an electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor are going to foreign workers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of opposing deals made with auto giants to bring EV plants to Canada.

Trudeau made that charge Monday in the House of Commons as Conservatives demanded to see contracts for six EV projects underway in Canada, and asked what they do to protect local jobs for unionized workers. Earlier this month, Canada’s Building Trades Unions (CBTU) claimed in a letter to Trudeau that nearly 200 Canadians were being sidelined in favour of international employees at the NextStar EV battery plant in Windsor, and requested his “personal intervention.”

While Trudeau agreed that Canadians should get the jobs first, he charged the Conservatives were trying to distract from their own record, which he said has not been friendly to workers.

“It is something that the Conservatives seem to have latched on to, to try and distract from the fact that they actually don’t support the Stellantis investment or the Volkswagen investment or the Honda investment,” he said in a conversation with the executive director of CBTU, a group representing skilled trades workers across Canada, during its annual conference in Gatineau.

“If they had their way, and certainly if they had been in government and not made the decision to draw in global investment in the EV sector, there would be no jobs, neither installation and construction jobs or production jobs.”

It’s the latest development in a fierce political battle as Canada’s major party leaders attempt to court workers’ support. In July, Ottawa and Queen’s Park reached a deal worth $15 billion in subsidies to lure auto giant Stellantis — the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat — and its Korea-based partner LG Energy Solution, to save the construction of the Windsor EV battery plant that would create 2,500 jobs.

Shortly after, it was revealed that foreign workers would have a significant role in the construction of the plant, sparking criticism from unions and Trudeau’s opponents. Ottawa has argued the foreign workers are only temporary.

“It’s not about a kind of animosity toward a foreign worker … but when you have a Canadian worker sitting at home, collecting Employment Insurance in their home community, and there are four workers doing his or her work in a plant, that is just completely inexplicable to that Canadian worker,” said CBTU executive director Sean Strickland. “We can’t have that happen.”

While Trudeau said Monday his government will do everything it can to keep those jobs for Canadians, he said last week at the announcement of another EV plant deal with Honda, that some foreign workers were needed in the NextStar project because “there’s a certain amount of specialized equipment that needs training so Canadians can actually be doing the installing as well.”

The deal with Honda, worth $5 billion in government funding, was also under scrutiny Monday as Conservative industry critic Rick Perkins said he was worried it would not include enough guarantees for Canadian workers after he reviewed the NextStar contract.

In a statement to the Star, NextStar said out of 1,975 workers currently on the project, only 72 are not Canadian — and none of them are counted in the projected 2,500 new jobs that will be created for Canadians once construction is complete.

“There is an inaccurate and negative portrayal of non-Canadian resident workers who are needed to temporarily support the industrialization of the battery plant prior to its launch,” the statement said.

Poilievre has not explicitly expressed his opposition to the deals with the automotive giants, but has been critical of the large government subsidies and attacked the Trudeau government for the foreign workers’ involvement. His office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

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When you have a Canadian worker sitting at home, collecting EI … and there are four workers doing his or her work … that is just completely inexplicable to that Canadian worker.

SEAN

STRICKLAND CANADA’S BUILDING TRADES UNIONS