South Koreans are eligible to work at NextStar EV factory under Harper-era free trade deal
2015 Canada/South Korea trade deal labour mobility provisions permits South Koreans to work at facility
Hundreds of South Koreans expected to work at the NextStar EV battery factory in Windsor, Ont., are legally eligible to work in Canada under a 2015 free trade agreement negotiated and implemented by Stephen Harper's former Conservative government.
Concerns were raised about foreign workers coming to Canada when a social media post by Windsor Police suggested up to 1,600 South Koreans would require accommodations during their employment at the facility.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to the news by demanding a "full inquiry into how many of these taxpayer-funded jobs are going to temporary foreign workers," saying the $15 billion in federal support for the facility should only fund jobs for Canadians.
Four Liberal ministers tried to calm tensions around the issue Tuesday, explaining that the South Koreans are eligible to work in Canada under labour mobility provisions contained in the free trade agreement that came into force shortly before Poilievre was named employment minister in 2015.
"We do have a free trade agreement with South Korea. And under Article 186 of that agreement, people do come and go on business visas, or visa-free, and they can stay if they are within the ambit of the reasons why they're here," Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters after a federal cabinet meeting Tuesday. "If they're not, the [Canada Border Services Agency] will investigate."
Miller said so far, fewer than 100 people have entered Canada under these auspices, and these workers have been "training people up."
"Not a single Canadian job has been paused or will be affected by this, but people do come and go as part of our free trade agreement with South Korea, just like Canadian businesses get the same benefit when they're in South Korea," Miller said.
The labour mobility provisions
The temporary entry for businesspersons provisions in the bilateral trade agreement that took effect Jan. 1, 2015 are reciprocal – meaning companies from both countries can take advantage in each other's jurisdictions.
Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault's office has maintained that so far it's only authorized one temporary foreign worker for the facility in Windsor.
That explanation holds, now that Miller has clarified that the 1,600 South Korea's ambassador to Canada floated recently might not need temporary foreign worker permits if they are business people making use of the trade agreement's entitlements.
"There's a difference between a temporary foreign worker that comes here for a specific amount of time and a foreign worker that comes in through immigration … to help with that technology transfer," Boissonnault told reporters.
Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday that he spoke to the CEO of Stellantis in the United States on Monday. The NextStar plant is a joint venture between the American carmaker and LG Energy Solution, a South Korean leader in electric battery technology.
"I asked him to take action and to ensure that we respect not only the letter but the spirit of our contract with the company, which is to maximize the number of opportunities for Canadians," Champagne said, adding that on Monday the CEO of the joint venture issued a statement clarifying it still intended to honour its commitment to employ 2,500 at the plant, as well as create about 2,000 construction jobs for Canadians.
"The equipment installation phase of the project requires additional temporary specialized global supplier staff who have proprietary knowledge and specialized expertise that is critical to the successful construction and launch of Canada's first large-scale battery manufacturing facility," Danies Lee, CEO of NextStar Energy, said in the statement.
Poilievre criticizes paycheques for foreign workers
The innovation minister said the Liberal government's job is to attract investments and opportunities for Canadians and promised to address any issues that arise with what's expected to be one of the largest battery facilities in North America.
"It's no different than in U.S. plants," Champagne said. "Since we didn't have the technology, we didn't have that knowledge, you need people that from time to time would come and just make sure that we can install the machinery … and teach our people to ensure that the new technology will be successful."
Champagne urged reporters to not lose sight of the big picture and see these foreign workers as a select few in certain roles within the larger context of a venture designed to "maximize Canadian workers."
It's still unclear, however, whether a South Korean entering under the free trade agreement provisions would be in addition to, or part of these overall job numbers — either temporarily or perhaps over the longer term.
On Monday, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre seized upon the foreign worker concerns and promised that if the Conservatives were elected to government, spending would not be abused to provide work opportunities to foreigners.
"I love South Korea, wonderful country. But they don't fund jobs for Canadians and we shouldn't fund jobs for their workers," Poilievre said. "Our money should fund our paycheques,"
Poilievre was Harper's employment minister in 2015 as the South Korean trade agreement and its labour mobility provisions were first implemented, and in that role could have been briefed on how the new preferential deal could impact the Canadian job market if future foreign investments sparked the need for specialized foreign labour.
Last week, a group of Conservative MPs requested an emergency meeting of the House of Commons Industry committee for Tuesday afternoon, just as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was delivering the government's Fall Economic Update to Parliament.
The New Democrat on that committee, Windsor-area MP Brian Masse, has spoken out about his region's concerns about losing employment to foreign workers. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh added his voice to the issue Tuesday morning.
"We supported this deal in the beginning because we believe in investing in opportunities to create jobs in Canada," Singh said Tuesday. "We need to be competitive. We see the climate around with the Inflation Reduction Act in the States; governments are making investments to encourage the creation of good jobs in Canada.
"If we're spending significant public money, there should be guarantees that public money is creating local Canadian jobs," he added.
MPs spent roughly two hours on Tuesday debating the terms of a possible study before agreeing to call a number of ministers to testify on the EV plant and the contract with Stellantis.
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