First off, the problem isn't with the companies; it's with policy.
These companies and corporations are basically using the loopholes and policies that are available to them to make these business decisions. They get foreign workers to come in by using the free trade agreements and labour mobility programs.
There used to be formal consultation with building trades unions before an LMIA was assessed or any form of mobility pathway was enabled. That went away a couple of decades ago. I tried to get the exact date when it stopped from some of the older members who are getting into retirement age. When we look at LMIAs or any of these programs, we have to search. There's LMIA.org and others.
A resolution to it would be to consult with the building trades affiliates, such as the millwrights, to confirm whether qualified Canadian workers are available and to ensure labour mobility pathways are limited to only specialized work. That's my goal here.
Then you'd tie federal funding to the use of certified trades and apprentices and require compliance with the Red Seal trades and the provincial trades standards. We all have a trade code. Every province and territory has trade codes for specific work, yet there's nothing in policy or in the buy Canadian policy yet that says Canadian workers should be doing it first.
That's what I'm trying to say. I'm not saying to not use foreign workers, because there is a time and a place, and we understand that. I'm saying that with all this money being invested in training us, we should be the ones who are doing it. That would be a direct return on investment.