Key points from Unifor president Lana Payne's comments:
When the news first broke, our union committed to investigate. What we learned is that, yes, there will be a team of hundreds of Korean workers temporarily coming to Canada to install equipment and machinery. Not 1,600, as reported by the police.
And, no, these workers will not be working permanently in the plant. Nor will these jobs count toward the promised 2,500 direct jobs.
In an ironic twist, weโve learned the program through which NextStar is transferring these Korean nationals into Canada โ that has the Conservatives up in arms โ exists only because of the Canada-Korea Free Trade Agreement โ an agreement negotiated and signed by the Conservatives themselves back in 2014.
Unifor was among the few groups vocally opposed to the Korea deal at the time, warning it would do further damage to an already ailing Canadian auto industry. It was another symbolic blow to an industry plagued by job losses and plant closures and close to extinction.
Now, either Poilievre and his Conservatives had a political epiphany about manufacturing jobs, or theyโve got terrible memories. Either way they are officially talking out of both sides of their mouths.
This is first I'm hearing of this since I don't live in the area, but looking back, it seems like major media outlets may have just reported on the controversy and not the facts? Getting tired of those kinds of journalistic "standards."