Thank you, there's unfinished business, and I'm not too terribly surprised that we're back here.
Mr. Perkins has been on this file for a long time, not only just at this committee, but also at industry, and he raises a lot of valid concerns and points. I think that comes because we don't have a national auto policy that's transparent, something I've been after for a long period of time. We have had, in the past, some of that structure, and that's missing, and so inasmuch as these deals are different, that creates questions and concerns, and obviously the Building Trades Unions have had some discomfort recently and issued a letter to the Prime Minister.
I did reach out to them today, because that's why we're here. We have this motion in front of us and with their interest in mind, and currently this doesn't happen with their support because they feel things are sensitive at the moment and they do appreciate it. I'm going to read the statement they sent to me so it's on the record.
Canada’s Building Trades Unions is aware of the ongoing discussions at OGGO. While we are pleased that all parties are concerned with Canadian unionized jobs, we do not believe it is in the interest of our ongoing discussions in pursuit of MoUs with global automakers for a such an expansive production order to be proceeded with at the current time, while sensitive negotiations are being undertaken. At minimum, we believe such disclosures should be limited to only jobs forecasts, and only then with Nextstar. Our preference would be to revisit this issue in one month and allow all parties to conclude negotiations.
That's from Sean Strickland, CBTU.
I've also been on the phone with them as well as Nathan Carr to get an idea. They have their convention going on as well, and they've had to advocate for their workers in a strong sense. I think it's been very frustrating, not only for the elected officials, but of course for the workers who have lost hours of employment as they've tried to negotiate and sometimes it hasn't gone as well as it should have.
Keeping that in mind, they have said that they would revisit this issue at the industry committee by issuing a letter to the chair at an appropriate time when negotiations are concluded or if there's a problem in the future that requires our attention.
So with that I want to withdraw the amendment from the NDP with regard to this. We don't need that. We don't need it to go to committee right now. We don't need the motion right now.
For me, I hope we can get to a vote because their convention is going on right now and this is another distraction for them at the moment. They've had to advocate strongly for their workers, and you know, they don't back down. You've seen the letters to the Prime Minister. You've seen the letters and their members have been reaching out to us. I want to thank them for advocating strongly because public dollars are very important, especially when we have to renew our sector the way that we have to now. Accountability is everything.
I trust them with this and I take my advice from them. They're at the table right now. As members of Parliament, we all need to be supportive of them and allow them to actually exercise their strength at negotiations and not undermine them in one way or the other.
With that, I won't be supporting the amendment that we have. I can ask for unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment and then we won't be supporting the main motion either.