We will speak to the facts, Mr. Chair. In 2008, it was Stephen Harper who built out the auto industry. It was the Business Development Bank of Canada that bought all leases from GMAC, the General Motors financing authority. I'm not going to take any lessons from the government-side members on the role of the auto industry and the threats perceived by the member who left the room regarding what is a significant contract.
You know, Mr. Chair, we all came together last spring, despite every attempt by the government to avoid transparency. On the Volkswagen contract, they eventually relented, and we were able to see the contract.
Now, unless Mr. Kusmierczyk has special access to government contracts that are deemed sensitive and secret in nature, I can't take his word for anything he said, because I have to assume, like any other member of Parliament who is not a member of cabinet, that they have not reviewed the contract, and the statements he made regarding employment and the nature of that employment, whether it's Canadian or Korean, cannot be verified. All we can go on is publicly made statements. That's what Mr. Kusmierczyk was stating: public statements. Right now, Mr. Chair, frankly, it's very hard to keep track of what all the public statements were.
I have lots of questions about this contract, just like I had about the Volkswagen contract. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that it was Stellantis that originally received a subsidy from the federal government, much smaller than the subsidy they have before it right now. Many people made the argument that if we went forward with the Volkswagen contract to align with the policies put forward by President Biden in the United States, we would see a slippery slope of all major investments in the auto industry and other sectors asking for the exact same terms and conditions. Well, lo and behold, a few weeks after we were here, Stellantis halted the construction of that plant. They said that unless the Government of Canada ponied up and gave them billions upon billions upon billions of dollars more, they were going to pull this investment from the good people of Windsor.
You know what, Mr. Chair? We didn't hear a peep out of Mr. Kusmierczyk when that was happening. It's really unfortunate that he wasn't standing up for his constituents when they needed him. Now we're in an untenable situation in which every big company that wants to build a battery plant in Canada using Chinese minerals wants billions upon billions of dollars from the federal government.
I want to know. I want to see the contract and understand what subsidies Stellantis is getting, because that's not a public fact right now.
What grants has Stellantis‑LG already received? What grants will Stellantis‑LG receive from the Government of Canada?
In the contract between Stellantis‑LG and the minister, did the federal government agree on a provision that allowed Stellantis‑LG to hire Korean workers instead of Canadian workers?
Yes, indeed, South Korea has a free trade agreement and the labour mobility clause with the Government of Canada, and that's a good thing.
I worked at the Department of Foreign Affairs when this contract between Canada and South Korea was signed. The intention was not for the Government of Canada to subsidize foreign workers through major auto investments or subsidies; it was to promote the exchange of people to build both of our economies up. What I'm fearful of, without seeing this contract, is that the clause in the free trade agreement with South Korea will allow for powerful paycheques for South Korean workers at the expense of Canadian taxpayers.
I don't want my taxpayer dollars going there, nor do the constituents in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, where we don't get big investments from the federal government—unless it's a prison, by the way. I can say confidently on behalf of the people I represent that we don't want our taxpayer dollars going to foreign workers, whatever the intention.
We need to figure this out and get to the bottom of this contract.
We need to know if the subsidy provided by the government is going to be used to pay foreign workers. If so, how much of our money would be given to each foreign worker?
We need to know if in fact the Canadian subsidy to Stellantis will fund foreign workers working on Canadian soil and are allowed by law to come into Canada under our free trade agreement. That's a fact. There are lots of things we need to get to the bottom of here.
Mr. Chair, for the member to come in and say that Conservatives need to be concerned because we don't have an environment policy, that we don't care about the people in southern Ontario or the auto industry, and that whatever the government is doing is a direct threat to my political party, I take issue with that. What is a direct threat to the people I represent is that the government not using taxpayer dollars wisely.
I will reiterate time and time again that the industry committee has a unique role in ensuring that these large subsidies do what they're intended to do and cost what the government says they're going to cost. If our recent work in this committee shows anything, it's that the government has underestimated the true cost of its subsidies to these major global auto giants.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.