I'm sure it was more pleasurable when you couldn't hear me, but at any rate I will resume with saying that basically I came to this place in 2002, and one of the reasons was for a green auto strategy. There were many jobs lost in Windsor, in Ontario, and Canada was number two in the world in automotive manufacturing. We've now slipped to eighth.
I support this project going forward, but there have been lots of concerns raised, not only with this one but also with the Volkswagen one. My concern resides on the transparency and accountability file of this.
This came about in the renegotiations. The most recent one was related to the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States. For me, this is critical in terms of having the opportunity to make sure that we're going to have most of the jobs here.
The story's changed even in the last number of hours. It was originally one position that was talked about. Now there are hundreds. There's a lack of supports in the community that are very important for the number of workers who are supposed to be brought in. That hasn't even really been discussed very much at this point.
What I would like to do is amend the motion by deleting.... I don't believe we need to hear from, at this point in time, Unifor national president Lana Payne. I would rather have Canada's Buildings Trades Unions' Sean Strickland present instead.
We should invite the Minister of Immigration, the Minister of Trade, and the ambassador of Korea, because, as was noted by Mr. Perkins, he came down to Windsor. Either the ambassador had intentions or.... We don't know what was taking place, but the Windsor police tweeted out that they expected potentially 1,600 people to be coming in. I don't think the ambassador of Korea actually comes to Windsor to vacation. He was here for a particular reason, and we'd like to have that testimony in front of us. We also believe that would be important.
As well, I don't believe we need the mayor of Windsor at this point in time. This is a very important federal contract. Perhaps in the future the province might be invited as well. That's a possibility.
I'll conclude my comments right now so we can move on with this.
I think that shedding light is very important for a national auto policy, a policy I've advocated for many years. I believe that Canadians do want to see us transition and be part of those things that are necessary for our future, and the best way to do that is to have transparency for people. That will build the public confidence that's necessary.
The plant has already had a little bit of an issue. There was a stalling to actually renegotiate. The government's had two negotiation points that have taken place, and I think it's reasonable to get the answers that are necessary right now and to ensure that every single possibility is covered.
It's important to note that when we have foreign labour come in for, say, the agricultural sector, the company pays for that foreign labour—it's not paid or subsidized by Canadian taxpayers. This is why I think people are a little bit concerned with what's taking place. More importantly, it was never talked about.
Whenever we have the announcements, the ribbon cuttings, a number of times there have been lots of political people who have taken credit, but it's really the workers who have actually saved our auto industry—by our quality, with Unifor, and our commitment—and the Unifor negotiations that have actually created the opportunities for investment. That's really where things are.
The fact is that the government's response to the Inflation Reduction Act of the United States has been merely to match that, but without the transparency that they provide in the United States. The United States has a much more transparent process for that, and so we need to keep that in mind, because it's important about this plant. It's not only the work that's being done to build it, but also the workers later on who will be in there, and to have the full confidence of the Canadian public.
I thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak. I hope we can actually improve this situation right now, because it is worthwhile.