On behalf of the International Union of Operating Engineers, I would like to thank the committee for allowing me to raise our concerns around the TPP, in particular chapter 12, temporary foreign entry of business persons, and the possible negative impact it could have on Canada's construction sector, a sector that consistently makes up nearly 10% of our total GDP and represents approximately $256 billion worth of work in Canada.
In our sector, safety is paramount. Our members are highly trained and well skilled. Our members operate the cranes and heavy machinery. We are mechanics and surveyors on construction sites. We work for the heavy civil and industrial contractors, and we are involved in various aspects of Canada's natural resource sector. We work in every corner of our country, and we construct and shape the skylines of Canada. We know construction quite well.
Unlike other sectors in Canada, construction is unique. It faces numerous challenges. Every year, every day, there are people working illegally in our sector. There is an underground economy that impacts us greatly. Companies continue to abuse and misuse temporary foreign worker programs in place now. Unless Canadian regulations and enforcement procedures are drastically changed to specifically address these issues, abuses and misuses will continue and will likely expand exponentially under the TPP.
As mentioned by the previous witness, the TPP will be the first time Canadian construction workers were ever included in a national trade agreement. Unfortunately, we were not given an opportunity to consult prior to the inclusion of construction workers. If we had, some of our concerns, like enforcement, might have been addressed at the time.
We believe chapter 12 as drafted does not provide any real benefit to Canada. In fact, we believe the opposite. We know that Canadian construction workers will not travel abroad in any relevant numbers to any of the other TPP countries. Besides language issues, most of these countries have much lower safety and work standards, and the pay is significantly less than construction workers receive in Canada. Why, then, would our workers want to travel to these countries for work? Workers from less developed countries, however, will come to Canada. They will seek better opportunities, better employment, better pay, even if that pay is below the Canadian working standard.
The TPP does not have a Canada-first provision, so we're concerned that companies based in, for example, Mexico will come to Canada with foreign workers from a region where there's high economic unemployment. A construction project could be built by a foreign company with foreign workers, and there would be nothing that Canadians or the federal government could do to stop it. Foreign workers and foreign companies can directly benefit from Canada's infrastructure jobs, while our workers and our economy suffer. All of the benefits that were offered to Canada's working middle class by the Liberals' $240-billion infrastructure pledge could be at risk.
As you are aware, the United States has exempted itself from chapter 12. Under this chapter, TPP countries sign individual side agreements with each other. Canada has seven side agreements, while the U.S. has signed none. If our largest trading partner refuses to sign chapter 12, why are we a signatory?
If would have made more sense if Canada and the U.S. had pursued worker mobility in the construction sector under the TPP. Our training, our background, our experience are generally interchangeable. Instead, though, less-skilled workers who do not meet many of our provincial standards will now be allowed to enter Canada. Under chapter 12, the credentials of foreign workers will be verified only by officials sitting at a desk via computer. They will view these resumés and take the qualifications at face value. Once workers come to Canada, there's no way to track them, no way to guarantee they meet our standards for safety or trade certification, and no way to ensure that they do only the work they have been assigned to do. These abuses already occur under TFW.
We are also concerned about the categorization of professionals under chapter 12—in our case, contractors for crews of heavy equipment operators. We've reviewed the national occupational code, which guides chapter 12, for the definition of occupations. We are concerned that the categorization is too big. We believe a contractor could be allowed to perform heavy equipment work, which means we could potentially have poorly trained, under-qualified crane operators working in our country. Would you feel safe walking by the West Block, where we have cranes right now, if you knew the crane operator might not have the ability to operate that crane safely? Then, again, how would you ever know if that person was qualified? For example, in Ontario to be a licensed operator, you must have a minimum of 3,000 hours to be considered a journey person.
On another matter of safety, under TPP there are no requirements forcing a potential construction worker to speak English or French. Imagine a construction site where the workers are unable to communicate and understand each other while moving and operating heavy, large pieces of equipment and heavy loads. A language problem currently exists under TFW, and it has led to serious injuries, and even fatalities, on job sites.
Currently, as written, we believe chapter 12 has many grey zones, which we believe can and will be exploited by construction companies abroad, and even domestically, at the expense of Canadian workers and our economy.
We have been working and continue to work with officials from Global Affairs to address our concerns, and we will push for some form of a demonstration of skills test before entry. We believe that's the only way to ensure we can get qualified workers into Canada. As it stands now, if we can't get some of these changes, we cannot support TPP.
I will be happy to expand on any of these comments and any questions you may have.
Thank you.