Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate my colleague Mr. Bachrach 's forward the amendment and looking at sending this to INDU, because INDU has been dealing with this issue for months. We've had spirited debate at the INDU committee on this very issue, but I have some grave concerns with this request, and I'll mention a couple of things just to set the context here.
I had a chance to speak with and I'm in regular contact with the ironworkers and the millwrights, with the people in the building trades in Windsor-Essex. We absolutely recognize and hear their concerns. They're important concerns, and I can tell you that Minister Champagne and I have both on different occasions spoken directly with Mr. Danies Lee, the CEO of NextStar—the joint venture that is building the battery plant in my hometown, in Windsor-Essex—and we've communicated our expectation that we want to maximize local Canadian workers at every turn and at every opportunity.
We've also pushed NextStar to establish a working committee between the employer and the building trades, so that information can be exchanged, best practices can be exchanged, any plans in terms of hiring can be exchanged moving forward, and any conflicts and concerns can be ironed out.
That has been our position from the very beginning. We want to see local workers, Canadian workers, maximized at every turn.
Right now, I drive past the battery plant every single day on my way to work when I am in Windsor. I see the battery plant being built right now, and it's incredible to see. I have never seen a project of this scale and this size, ever. It is incredible to see, and when you drive down Banwell Road, what you see is row upon row of pickup trucks and cars of Canadian workers, local workers, building the battery plant. It is incredible. It literally stretches for what feels like kilometres, and the parking lot is absolutely jam-packed with local workers, Canadian workers, building the battery plant.
Let's look at some facts here. There are 2,000 workers currently on site, building the battery plant, 2,000 workers who are local, who are Canadian, building the battery plant, and when that battery plant is completed there will be another 2,500 permanent workers building batteries for generations.
These are workers who are local, Canadian and unionized. That's 4,500 workers related to the battery plant in my hometown here in Windsor-Essex, Windsor—Tecumseh specifically.
Right now, there are about 70 to 72 workers who are from abroad, who are international. You have 2,000 Canadian workers building the plant and you have another 2,500 permanent workers coming who are Canadian and local. Compare that to 72 workers right now who are international, who are foreign workers. If you just look at who's building the battery plant, that's four per cent. That's four per cent.
It is important to highlight that this is the very first battery plant in all of Canada, the very first battery plant to be built in all of Canada, and Canada does not have the expertise of building and running battery plants. This is new. We're trying to build a brand new industry here in Canada, so it stands to reason that there will be workers from Korea. Korea has been building batteries, and LG, which is a Korean company, has been building batteries for over 30 years. It has 30 years of experience in building battery plants and building batteries. It is the world leader in battery technology.
These workers are coming to Canada not only to help us kick-start and spark a brand new industry, which they are the world leader in, but to help provide Canadians with training, so that we will be able to build batteries for generations to come. The Korean workers who are coming here are coming not only to help install equipment and help us get the battery plant up and running in a timely fashion, so that 2,500 Canadian workers can start working there, but to help us transfer knowledge and give us a head start, so that we can catch up and get up and running to build batteries for generations to come.
Windsor is just the start. When you look at the last four years across southwestern Ontario, you see $50 billion in automotive investment. This is incredible when you see the level of investment in the automotive industry, specifically in electric vehicles, battery manufacturing, vehicle assembly, electric vehicle assembly and building the necessary components that go into batteries.
The most recent announcement was the $15-billion Honda investment in Alliston, Ontario. That was the latest investment in a string of investments that our federal government has delivered to Canada. We've delivered $50 billion of investment. The Honda investment is the single largest auto investment in the history of this country. It's the largest battery investment in all of North America, and we delivered it here.
The world is coming here to Canada to build batteries, to build electric vehicles and to build the components that go into batteries. The world is coming here.
Look at Stellantis-LG, a Korean company, here in Windsor-Essex. That's creating 2,500 jobs.
You have Volkswagen coming to St. Thomas, just up the road, to build. That's a multi-billion dollar investment, creating 4,000 jobs in St. Thomas, Ontario. Volkswagen's a German company.
You have Northvolt coming to Quebec. Again, thousands of jobs will be created to build batteries. Northvolt is a Swedish company.
Now you have Honda making huge investments in Alliston, Ontario. Of course, you have Ford in Oakville, and General Motors as well.
It's the federal government that is stepping in to partner with these companies to bring those investments and those jobs here.
I can understand why the Conservatives want to do everything possible to create a circus around this success story in Canada, try to undermine it and try to diminish what we've accomplished here as a federal Liberal government by bringing $50 billion of auto investment to Ontario. In the last four years, we've completely revitalized, rekindled and strengthened automotive manufacturing in southwestern Ontario.
The reason the Conservatives want to undermine this good-news story.... They oppose everything, but the reason they particularly want to oppose this progress and this momentum is simply that it highlights that the good news we're delivering here is in stark contrast to the misery the Conservatives delivered when they were in government eight years ago.
I can speak to that. Under the previous Conservative government, eight years ago, 300,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in Canada. The current Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Pierre Poilievre, was the employment minister at the time. He was the jobs minister at that time in Canada, when we lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs.
We felt that pain in Windsor. We felt that pain, because under the previous Conservative government, we had 11.2% unemployment in Windsor-Essex. I'll say it again: 11.2% unemployment.
Think about that. We had 30% unemployment for young people who didn't see a future in my community. Under the Conservative government, you saw my city contracting and my community getting smaller, because young people were leaving in droves. They didn't see a future, and you had people leaving Windsor-Essex to go work on the oil sands and send money back, because there were no jobs in Windsor-Essex. This was under the Conservatives.
We know what it feels like in our community when we see manufacturing suffer, when we see factories closing and when we see businesses closing and families leaving. We know that pain in Windsor-Essex. The Conservatives see the $50-billion investment in automotive and manufacturing across Canada in the last four years. They see the revitalization of automotive across Canada, and they don't like how that looks, because, again, it makes their performance and their track record look even worse.
We've done it. From Windsor to St. Thomas to Oakville to Alliston to Quebec, we are revitalizing automotive and manufacturing. Not only that, but we are building the electric vehicle and battery heartland of North America right here in this community.
Again, it is important to listen to the ironworkers and the millwrights and the concerns that they have brought forward. We are communicating that, and we are pushing NextStar to maximize the local workforce as much as possible. We want to go even higher than the 96% right now, where we see that 96% of workers are Canadian and local. We want to up that, so we will continue to push NextStar to maximize wherever possible.
The solution that the Conservatives are bringing forward here to open up contracts to the public, the agreements that we have signed with these companies and these major investors, is absolutely wrong. It's the wrong path; it undermines all the agreements we've brought forward, and it undermines business confidence in Canada. It also undermines future investment in Canada, and don't take my word for it.
I want to read a letter into the record here, because this is important. This is a letter that is signed by the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association. This is a letter that is signed by the president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, representing hundreds of thousands of businesses across Canada. This is a letter signed by the president and CEO of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters. This is a letter that is signed by the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association and the Global Automakers of Canada. The letter is addressed to committee members on behalf of Canada's largest manufacturers and employers, who wrote to share their deep concerns regarding the efforts of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates to release contracts between the federal government and private sector companies. The efforts of this committee to release confidential commercial contracts threaten, they said, to reverse Canada's recent progress in winning job-creating investment. Commercial contracts are negotiated in confidence with the federal government and contain proprietary information, competitive strategies and intellectual property. There is no other competitor jurisdiction that releases confidential commercial contracts. By making these contracts public, they said, the committee would bring into question Canada's adherence to the rules-based trade and investment system on which our economic prosperity depends. Doing so would inflict permanent damage on Canada's welcoming investment climate.
Let me repeat that: They said that doing so would inflict permanent damage on Canada's welcoming investment climate. Furthermore, they said the committee risks doing irreparable harm to Canada's investment attraction negotiating positions, since such an action could result in previously negotiated agreements being reopened and competing jurisdictions using the information to undermine Canada's competitiveness for future investments. They urged the committee to protect the rule of law and uphold Canada's well-deserved reputation as a reliable jurisdiction for job-creating investment.
Folks, that is unequivocal. You have the automakers, the manufacturers and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce all saying that this is a bad move for Canada. This will undermine not just present investment; it will undermine future investment. It will undermine Canada's ability to attract investment and jobs, and it will hand our competitors—jurisdictions in the United States, China, Mexico and elsewhere in Europe—an advantage. This is what the Conservative Party wants to do.
At the end of the day, this impacts workers. This impacts the 2,000 workers building the battery plant in Windsor. It impacts the 2,500 Canadian workers who will be building batteries for generations to come in Windsor and the thousands of local Canadian workers who will be building batteries in the plants in St. Thomas, in Alliston and in Quebec.
This is a wrong path. This is a dead end for Canada.
I honestly cannot believe that the Conservatives are ignoring the letter signed by the Chamber of Commerce, the parts manufacturers and the car makers. They're willfully ignoring it, because they will do everything they can to diminish the good news story, which is $50 billion of automotive investment in this country and literally within a few hours drive from Windsor.
I mean, what the Conservatives are proposing here is incredibly dangerous.
It's not just the business community. We had Lana Payne, president of Unifor, the largest union in Canada, saying that this is ridiculous, that this is nothing but a “circus” that the Conservatives are trying to drum up, and that this is trying to undermine confidence in these investments. We had the president of Unifor publicly stating that this is a wrong move.
You had Dave Cassidy, who's the president of Local 444, which represents 5,000 Stellantis workers in Windsor and 20,000 retirees in Windsor, coming in front of the mic in Ottawa and doing a national press conference. He stated that this is “nothing but political hay”.
This is nothing but a circus. It undermines the real work that we're doing, which is bringing auto investment and jobs to communities like mine.
You have the business community saying this is wrong and dangerous. You have Unifor, the folks who represent the workers saying that this is wrong and dangerous.
No, I will not support this motion or where this is going.
I mean no offence, Mr. Perkins, but rather than listening to you, I'd listen to the folks representing the workers. I'd rather listen to the folks representing hundreds of thousands of businesses and manufacturers in Canada, who are saying that this is simply wrong and that this is egregious. That's where we stand on this motion.
I'll tell you, I had an opportunity to speak with businesses in Windsor-Essex on this very issue of the foreign workers coming here to help set up the battery plant. If you speak to manufacturers—any manufacturing company in Canada—and ask about installing equipment, they will say the same thing: They, themselves, send Canadian workers to Mexico to install Canadian-built machines. They will send Canadian workers to the United States to install Canadian-made machines. This is the way the manufacturing world works.
Also when we install CANDU reactors in other countries, and when we will be installing small modular nuclear reactors in other countries—Canadian machines and Canadian equipment—you can absolutely bet your bottom dollar that we will have Canadian workers travelling to Korea and installing CANDU reactors and equipment. You will have Canadian workers travelling to the United States to install Canadian equipment. You will have Canadian workers going to Germany to install Canadian-made machines and equipment.
That is what happens in manufacturing. This is standard operating procedure in manufacturing, especially when some of that equipment is proprietary and especially when, for some of that equipment, if you don't have those specialized workers installing it, the warranty on that machinery is invalidated. This is so common. When you talk to every manufacturer, this is common practice.
The 72 folks who are coming here from Korea are doing so to install proprietary equipment. They are coming here to supervise. They are coming here because they have know-how and they're sharing 30 years of expertise with us. They're also training Canadian workers.
There are Canadian workers right now from Windsor who have travelled to Poland to be trained at the LG battery plant there in Wrocław. There are Canadian workers there, as we speak, being trained. There's also a knowledge transfer taking place.
Where there is misunderstanding, concerns or conflict, again, we absolutely are leaning on NextStar to make sure we maximize local workers and make sure NextStar is listening to CBTU, the ironworkers and the millwrights and pushing them to solve that issue internally. That's where this issue needs to be solved. We will continue to push, because we want to maximize at every opportunity and at every turn.
However, to go from this issue—