OTAWA –
Canada’s auto industry is experiencing a renaissance as it transitions from making gasoline-powered vehicles to battery-powered vehicles, but some are raising the alarm about protecting local jobs.
Southern Ontario has become a hub for foreign automakers who have invested tens of billions of dollars since 2020 to build battery plants for electric vehicles, with help from the federal government in the form of tax credits and subsidies.
As the federal and provincial governments subsidize that growing industry, union leaders, the federal Conservatives and the NDP are demanding assurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that he will ensure jobs go to Canadians.
Earlier this month, the Canadian Construction Union asked Trudeau to intervene in the NextStar battery plant in Windsor, Ontario, owned by Stellantis and LG Energy Solution.
The union said Canadians are being sidelined in favor of temporary foreign workers.
In a letter to Trudeau, he said 180 skilled workers in the region remain unemployed despite being available to perform jobs that have instead been assigned to newcomers.
It is a “blatant displacement of workers,” the April 10 letter says, “by large international corporations making a mockery of the Canadian government, taxpayers and our skilled workers.”
NextStar Energy and the federal government say foreign workers account for only 72 jobs at the plant, and that specialized equipment is being installed that Canadians will then be taught to use.
Still, the union’s executive director, Sean Strickland, said those are tasks Canadian workers can already perform.
“Today we have 1,600 Canadian workers on the job site and we expect that to continue during the next phase of this project, where work will focus on equipment installation,” Strickland said in a statement.
“We continue to be able to provide the skilled labor necessary to perform this work.”
On Thursday, Trudeau was in Alliston, Ontario, to announce the latest multi-billion dollar investment in electric vehicles.
Honda plans to build a battery plant next to its assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce all-electric vehicles as part of a $15 billion project.
Trudeau dodged a question about whether the Honda deal includes explicit protections for Canadian workers.
“Actually, the investments that we’re making, whether with NextStar or here with Honda Motor Co., are aimed at creating great jobs for Canadian workers, and that’s what’s really being achieved,” Trudeau said.
The company says 1,000 new jobs will be associated with the project.
But right now, there have been no guarantees that existing Honda workers in the community will be able to transition to the new jobs, said the national president of Unifor, Canada’s main auto union.
“We just have to make sure we protect workers in any way we can,” Lana Payne said.
When an automaker transitions its existing operations to an electric vehicle plant, that can affect up to 30 percent of jobs in assembly plants and the auto parts sector, Payne said, so it’s important that governments ensure current footprints in workplaces.
Unifor has pressured the federal and provincial governments to include worker protections in their contracts with automakers that ensure income security, job security and the right to form a union.
Honda currently employs more than 4,000 people in Alliston. They are not unionized, but employees have had conversations about joining Unifor.
“For workers who do not have the benefit of a union, it is vitally important that the government ensures that those workers are protected during the transition period, working with employers to ensure they have those guarantees, particularly when government investments,” Payne said.
The Conservatives have demanded to see the contracts the federal government has made with automakers, saying Trudeau cannot be trusted to protect Canadian jobs.
“We’ve seen Justin Trudeau before announcing massive subsidies that were supposed to create Canadian jobs, only to see him turn around and let those jobs be filled by foreign replacement workers and then lie about it,” said Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for the leader of the opposition. Pierre Poilievre said in a statement.
“We can’t trust his latest announcement of $5 billion of Canadian taxpayer money to another large multinational corporation to be any different.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has also called on the Liberal government to stop issuing “blank checks” without strict safeguards for unionized workers.
“There needs to be safeguards built into any public dollar we spend, and it should be tied to jobs and investments that benefit Canadians,” Singh said.
“It shouldn’t be that we just give a company a blank check and tell them we expect them to hire Canadians.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2024.