It was just over a year ago I first wrote about Chinese companies who allegedly couldn’t find one single skilled worker in Canada to staff their mines up north… https://lailayuile.com/2011/10/04/if-you-build-them-mines-they-will-come-workers-from-china/
Of course, this week the outrage begins anew with news that even more mines will be bringing even more foreign workers, and while the companies
“promise” to train Canadians down the road… something tells me that’s never going to happen.
Of course, this isn’t just a BC trend to look to foreign workers… Alberta’s been very busy doing the same thing, targeting Americans.
This article details the wonderful partnership between Alberta and American veterans because ” Canada needs you for pipeline work.” : http://www.vfw.org/News-and-Events/Articles/2012-Articles/CANADA-WANTS-U-S-VETERANS-FOR-PIPELINE-WORK/
“This is a great opportunity for veterans, transitioning military, National Guard and reservists, and their family members,” said Ted Daywalt, founder and CEO of VetJobs (www.vetjobs.com), a recognized industry leader in helping veterans find work.
My first thought was ‘How convenient for pipeline companies to have workers on site with military experience and training…’
But there is more. Opportunity awaits at this site : http://www.opportunityawaits.com/default.aspx , where the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation has a multitude of skilled job openings for people looking for work from the US, and are even holding job fairs to recruit on behalf of Suncor, Finning and PCL Constructors. They offer tips and advice on getting your US passport, living in Alberta and all the benefits offered by the companies seeking workers.
I hear that in some fields there is a shortage of skilled labour because many provinces pushed kids to tech and business rather than trades for far too long and that’s starting to show as older tradespeople retire. Time to invest in educating and skills training for Canadians starting at the high school level for those kids interested, but even with that being said, I find it hard to fathom these companies can’t find Canadian workers to fill these positions.
Or did they really try?
Westcoast Views with Laila Yuile 
This policy reeks in so many ways…and the temp workers in the BC Mines, do they also do compulsary service for the Chinese Communist Government prior to becoming so skilled for our jobs? Why are mining deaths so very commonplace in China, if Canadians could not hope to meet this level of skill? What does that say about what the elites think of the working class, Canadian or otherwise?
Clearly, the agenda of this Foreign Temp Worker scam is to disempower Canadians of their expectations of attaining the elusive middle class. To drive our human rights and rule of law literally into the ground.
Look at how successful XL foods is at integrating FTW into Canadian society. They must be, production has doubled and goodpaying jobs dissappered all over the country. In butcher shops, abbatoirs, grocery stores…
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The “gutting” of the trades schools began in the late 80’s and was almost completed by the late 90’s.
Apprenticeships are/were too expensive for many companies, union or nonunion alike. Work was too sporadic.
Kids graduating from high school were steered towards exciting new careers in …..computors! Wow computor programmers s can solve ALL our employment problems!
The “modulization” of the trades schooling also seemed to be a further impedement to the successful completion of an apprenticeship. ( instead of 4 years of work experience /schooling with an exam each year. The geniuses developed “modules” that could be completed at your own pace! Well, gee whiz! People didnt seem to graduate “at their own pace”!).
I guess the rocket scientists forgot that everything runs on electricity(electricians), everyone needs water(plumbers), everyone needs a place to live(carpenters), everyone drives(mechanics).
So now what do we have?
Boomer trades retiring.
and Non english as a first language trades replacing them.
And while i dont critisize their skills as trades men. I do grind my teeth when trying to explain a minor electrical,plumbing, mechanical problem to a chinese, spanish, russian person that barely understands me…..
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Great comment. We totally missed the boat on this one. I think it didnt help that a lot of people who are tradesmen and women didnt want to encourage this for their kids, wanting them to have a better life.Nothing wrong with a good days honest hard work and as someone who also deals with a lot of tradepeople, I can tell you those skills are an art.
It came to my attention shortly after these links were sent to me via facebook, that Damien Gillis actually did a great piece on this early this summer while I was on vacation. He gets into real detail though on it, so check it out. This was news to me today and it seems like I wasnt the only one to miss it! http://thecanadian.org/item/1591-enbridge-jobs-us-veterans-recruited-canadian-oil-industry-harper-china-damien-gillis
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Hear! Hear!
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Harper is selling the tar sands out to China. Harper did permit China to bring their own cheap labor. Harper has permitted other company’s, to hire that cheap labor to exploit. Harper also said. China can bring thousands over to build, the Enbridge pipeline. Canadians did not get the refining jobs. Harper gave those to Red China too. Chinese workers died up there. China was found guilty of those deaths. Who do people think the company’s at the tar sands will hire, Canadians or the cheap slave Chinese wages? Harper really envies Red China, their stance on human rights because, they don’t have any.
China is showing their aggression around the globe. China has hacked into other country’s secret files. They sold infected electronic components to other country’s. U.S. missiles and other weapons, had infected components purchased from China. While other country’s are escorting Red China off their lands. Harper brings that country, right onto our Canadian soil.
Premier Redford did make a deal with the U.S. The war veterans of the U.S. will build the pipeline out of Alberta. While we people in BC have no say over Alberta. Premier Redford seems to think, it is her God given right to force her dirty Bitumen into BC. I refuse to buy Alberta beef ever again. I have $200.00 worth of Alberta beef in my freezer, to throw out.
When Putin of Russia visited China. They signed a deal. Russia will supply China with all the oil they want. China now has the lead in oil sales. Oil will be sold by the Chinese yaun, instead of the dollar. Red China will pipe out our cheap dirty Bitumen. They will refine it with their cheap labor, and resell it for a very nice profit.
CSIS even warned, of Red China’s encroachment into Canada. BC was specifically named. Campbell sold BC out to Red China too. Christy is also in on this treachery. Why do you think she went to Alberta again. Bill Tieleman, has an excellent article on this, on his web site.
I’m sure Harper will sell Nexen to Red China. We were told, if Harper wins his so called majority, we could kiss Canada good-bye.
All of that evil Harper has done to Canadians is, him being a Traitor and committing High Treason. Canadians want nothing to do with Red China, what-so-ever.
Harper has destroyed Canada people. The Federal election was tainted and dirtied, by the robo-call election fraud. Millions of Canadians do not want Harper as P.M. for that very reason. I really feel. BC would be much more safe from Harper, if we left Harper’s Canada and became our own little country. Years ago, I was horrified Quebec wanted to separate. Because of Harper, I wouldn’t blame any province, that wants to get away from him and Ottawa.
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Julie, time for your meds
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I think I am going to need some meds if the direction of this province and country doesnt change soon. We have a completely unqualified, unelected,insipid tantrumesque premier in charge provincially and a megalomaniac in the PM’s office. I thought things like this happened only on bad late night made for tv movies.
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The queen of England is really in charge of this country we call canada.. the governor general take orders from the queen and when who ever government is in power don’t do what the queen says, the governor general desolves government on orders from the queen
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OMG……….this person is a voter?
Someone shoot me now.
But, it does sort of explain why Christy Clark STILL has support in the polls………..
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ummmm from the google search terms on my site, I would say there are two large reasons Christy still has support… ; )
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While I agree with your (and many other people’s observations) about both leaders.
a) We as the voters of this Province haven’t had our day at the polls…yet. To turf Christy.
b) What were our choices federally in the last election?
Harper who didnt seem to be doing a bad job in a “minority govt” OR
Michael Ignateff who came across as an elitist snob OR
Jack “rub and tug” Layton who’s MP’s have less political experience than Justin Trudeau.
……and if nothing changes on either political scene (Provincially or Federally) and we dont get some REAL leaders in the opposition we stand a very good chance of an NDP govt in BC and Mr. Harper’s “control everything including the message” style of govt for 5 more years……
As for late night movies, It reminds me of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”
An allegorical sci-fi horror movie warning of communistic control of the masses.
Personally I think Christy should be locked in a padded cell and forced to perform an exorcism on herself and Harper should be forced to watch. 🙂
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I really can’t disagree much with any of this.And with what I know now about the Federal Libs,Desmarais and China, don’t want to see them up ever, nor Harper. Wow. We are in quite the pickle.
Love the image of Christy and Harper… : )
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Your post offended me. Why bother trying to reason with anyone that refers to Jack Layton with ‘rub and tug’ You’re one sick bastard and should learn to look at reality.
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Good to see that you are back Laila. Came across this at the Tyee this morning, and it is down right scary. It seems that we all misjudged ” Chairman Harper ” in the last election.
http://thetyee.ca/
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Thanks Gary. Andrew is right on the money and actually Gordon Wilson kind of beat him to it… I posted the link to Gordons blog about this topic on the Playing with the Dragon II thread. Its a complete sell out. Complete. As Gordon said, in any other country it would be considered treason.
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Sadly, the only treason in Chinada , will soon be in speaking out against these injustices.
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We as Canadians must look to ourselves and do some searching. We must try and understand the whole picture!
The question reverberates over and over… “How can this happen in Canada?” well the answer could be that it can happen precisely because this is Canada.
In what other democratic nation could the Prime Minister be found in contempt of parliament and show up for work the next morning after enjoying his morning coffee?
In what other city than Vancouver could Joe Oliver show up on the waterfront with a microphone, spout his typically contemptuos bile and walk away with nary a word or a question from the media attending, I watched it in complete disgust.
Now we are facing massive sellouts of our resources and our rights to them and we have one person, Elizebeth May, trying to defend.
We are broken, we have taken to the internet as though by some miraculous hope we will be heard.
I fear it will take more than that.
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There is more than just little ol E.May fighting for Canada. The NDP has brought up this issue of foreign workers in parliament and totally disagree with it. The sneaky way the Cons brought in the fact that they can pay 15% less is also exploitive. Miss May just wants you to believe that only she can change the world. Why she is like this, I don’t know, but she does this with every issue.
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Scoff at me as you will.
There are 200 Chinese miners on their way to Canada, to work the BC coal mines, as we speak. Those Chinese workers were sent to school in China, to learn English. This was done, when Campbell was still in office. There may be as many as 2000 Chinese miners brought here. Campbell already shipped our mills to China, along with our raw logs. That cost our BC mill workers their jobs. Now, if any of the seven new mines, and/or expansions are owned by China, their people will work those jobs too. If the mines are U.S….those jobs will go to the Americans.
The tear down of the old smelter in Kitimat contract, also went to the Americans. The few Canadians who did get jobs, were treated like shit by the American workers. They weren’t even given safety gear. They had to breathe in aluminum dust, while the Americans were given respirators. The U.S. is also building the new smelter. You can’t imagine how happy the people in Kitimat are. They can’t wait to get those arrogant Americans, the hell out.
Premier Redford cut a deal with the U.S. Their U.S. war vets, get to build the pipeline out of Alberta. Obama also lied. The Key Stone pipeline, was never off the back burner. They were manufacturing the pipes, for that project all along.
If you read Bill Tieleman’s web site. You will see Christy Clark also betrayed the BC people, as Campbell did before her. Why did Christy suddenly go to Alberta? She too works for Harper.
Same crap at the tar sands. Red China already owns huge chunks of the tar sands, plus all the jobs too. Harper has permitted cheap Chinese workers at the tar sands. Who will those company’s hire? Canadians or cheap Chinese slave labor?
Russia cut a deal with China. They will give China, all the oil they want. China has the lead in oil sales. They will sell the oil, by the Chinese yaun instead of the dollar. China gets to pump the cheap dirty Bitumen, refine it and resell the oil, for a very tidy profit. With their cheap labor, they make a damned good profit.
Sorry Laila. Some people piss me right off. They can’t even see what is going on, right in their faces, obvious. Nor do we forget Harper’s, part in the destruction of BC.
BC is safe in Harper’s Canada. Convince me!!!
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Ummmmm Julie,
Which is it 200 Chinese miners or 2000? Either way Its already becoming an issue in the media. This isnt a conspiracy. There is no formal training for “hard rock miners” in western Canada and the unemployed miners in eastern Canada dont seem willing or able to apply for these jobs…
As for the demolition of the smelter in Kitimat. An American company obviously won the “bid” to demolish it. Lets not forget who owned the smelter. Alcan. A Canadian company. And since the demolition job occurred in Canada I suspect that the WCB safety rules applied. So If what you say is true(even if i find it somewhat unbelievable) those workers only had to make one phone call to rectify the situation.
I hate to bust your chops here ,however your vitriolic anti American “conspiracy” rants seem a bit one sided. You seem to hate the Chinese, The States and Alberta. Have you ever travelled outside the border of BC?
Big business, whether its Chinese owned, Canadian owned, American, German, whatever is in business to make money. Companies dont invest billions of dollars here in BC just to employ BC workers. Shareholders want profits. Its that simple. If you have a pension plan (CPP invests in the stock market) then your connected to these companies whether you like it or not.
The world needs oil and Alberta has over a 50 year supply. Granted its caustic, dirty crap, but its still oil and China wants it…. So if we dont sell it to them who do we sell it to? Someone nicer? Give me a break! We will sell it to whoever bids the highest. ( there’s that dirty B word again).
Do I like the idea of 200 chinese workers taking Canadian jobs? No. Do I want China to continue to invest billions of dollars into northern BC, Alberta and Canada? Yes. Is there an easy solution to this issue? Definitely not.
Sorry if I “piss you off” but I cant stand uniformed, disjointed grandstanding for the sake of spewing xenophobic diatribes against corporate world forces that you have zero understanding of.
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Bringing foreign workers into Canada is to ensure unions do not take root at these new work sites & health & safety does not become a priority. When workers can be removed from the country at any time they won’t complain. Bringing U.S.A. war veterans into Canada to work, ensures the unions also won’t come into the work site & they are ensured they have a work force which will follow orders. I guess they’ll bring their guns & republican views with them.
Foreign workers are an attempt to change Canadian culture. We have sufficient unemployed workers in Canada to perform the work, companies just don’t want them. Bringing in foreign workers who may legally be paid less will drive Canadian workers’ wages down as will the benefits. If a worker is going to return to their own country, or be returned, the company doesn’t even have to consier pensions being an issue.
Given the state of American health care Americans will be more than willing to come to Canada. Even in the worst areas, Canadian health care is much better than American health care, if you aren’t rich. Have cancer in Canada, you will get treatment, even if you have to wait a few weeks. In the U.S.A. you have cancer & no insurance or the insurance company decides to refuse authorization for treatment, you die. I would conclude stevie slime has decided that if Canadians won’t be more like Americans than might as well bring the Americans into Canada to help things along.
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Wow! Chinese workers in northern BC mean no more unions, no more health and safety. American workers = war vets and guns will reign supreme. Unbelievable.
Foriegn workers will change Canadian culture……. Ummmmm e.a.f. have you been to Richmond lately? Foriegn workers have been in Canada since the very beginnings of this country. Next time you go sking in Whistler ask the Aussie lift attendant when his visa expires. Next time you get in a taxi ask the Indian, Iranian, whatever, how long they have been here and when they will get citizenship……..
PEOPLE OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IS A WORLD WIDE JOKE!
If we dont allow these “foriegn” workers in and make them pay taxes….they will come anyway! Illegally! And illegal workers dont pay taxes!
Whats the immigration backlog waiting list now? 5 years? 10? To hell with that! Lets just pay a snake head $50,000 and jump on a boat and poof! We’re in Canada! Woo Hoo The land of milk and honey.
And unless you willing to see Canadian sailors machine gunning desperate boat people off the coast of BC broadcast live on the 6 o’clock news…….
Who do you think does all the shitty jobs that we feel are beneath us? You e.a.f.? You Julie ? Jayzus grow up! Take a long look at the lazy assed skateboarders hanging around outside 7-11 or the obese kids sucking on a half gallon of pop at McDonalds. Do you think any of those kids are going to work at berry picking? Or scrubbing toilets in an all night gas station/ Gimme a break. Last time I saw a white kid doing work like that was on a Andy of Mayberry rerun…….
And last but not least…….. Canadian Health Care vs Amerkan Medical
Ah yes…..Canadian Health Care, where we spend more and more of the money on salaries and pensions…NOT on expanding the system….NOT on reducing waiting times, NOT on new equipment ( ever notice that it seems to be rich donations that buy MRI machines? Not tax dollars) The Canadian Health care system that has dropped in ranking for more than 10 years in a row. France, Britain, Sweden have pumped BILLIONS of dollars into their medical systems to bring them up to world class standards (unlike Canada) and they have now hit the geriatric wall. Cutbacks, shrinking tax base, etc.
A broken leg, no problem. But………..
…if my doctor THINKS I might have cancer and the Canadian system is full, “Sorry we’ll put you on a waiting list, call us in 6 months” OR I can afford to “jump the line” and drive down to Seattle and pay $5k US for an MRI……screw the canadian system. It’s a sad shadow of its former self.
Dont be too smug, Ive had several friends die here in Canada waiting for a f**king test !
If i get sick and Canada wants me to “take a number”
My Visa’s gonna bleed…………. red,white and blue 🙂
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nonconfidencevote! I would say your last two sentences pretty much sum up your opinion and your attitude about canada. That’s two people today that have been berated by you, two people who have every much right as you to comment and add their thoughts to discussions about the topics presented.
There are no awards as far as I know for being wise or witty, no Alex G Tsakumis dominating blog prize that I am aware of.
If you feel that the world isn’t paying attention to your superior intellegence and you are being short changed perhaps a soul searching is in order to find out if your beliefs in yourself are valid but at anyrate it is not the onus of other commentors to verify that!
This is the internet you understand??
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Sorry I took so long to reply Don, I was working and had no access to computers today.
Anywho,
Thank for your compliment about my wit and intelligence( please note the correct spelling). I appreciate that.
As for “berating” Julie and e.a.f. .
I didnt really consider listing facts sprinkled with “wit” , “superior intelligence” and a dab of sarcasm to be considered a foam speckled screaming rant of a rebuttal.
But I digress.
If someone, even when a witty intellect(your words) such as my self tosses out statements that have no basis in truth or fact and does not expect them to be challenged…..then whats the point of any blog?
Be prepared to have your statements challenged by someone. Anyone, not necessarily me, but anyone.
I dont need the world to pay attention…..when I have you……..
As for Alex Tsakumis’s blog…… I wouldnt have discovered this one without it being mentioned there……….
These Blogs are both excellent for their political and current events observations. I check them daily…… :). If that makes me a pathetic, souless, loser…so be it.
As for Canada. I love this country except of course, when Jason Beiber offers an opinion on anything ……..
The medical system here is in crisis and to pretend it isnt….is pure folly. If i can afford to drive to the US and pay for a exam or a treatment it merely frees up my “space” in the ever growing lines in Canada. And it will only get worse as our boomer population ages and the children of boomers continue to eat their way to an obese early diabetic death…..
My beer is getting warm , gotta swill now!
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Non confidence, I understand Canada has always been a country of immigrants. I am one of them. My concern is people being permitted into Canada as only temp. workers. If people apply for landed immigrant status & qualify, fine, but workers who are brought in only for the purpose of working temporarily will never feel secure. They don’t have a vested interest in this country. It is much better to allow them to come as landed immigrants.
As to “shitty jobs”, as a student I & many others worked as farm workers, fruit factories, laundries, etc. The we worked the jobs & they paid enough for us to continue our education. The problem with many jobs these days is the salary. It isn’t enough to live on. then employers simply “import” temporary workers.
As to the Canadian medical system, it is much more preferable than the American one. Yes the Canadian medical system has faults & western european countries are doing better but the problem may be that the Canadian system is being run by politicians & pencil pushers instead of medical people.
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e.a.f.
I agree with you.
All your statements and concerns are well thought out.
I think the growing backlash against these govt “guest workers” is a legitimate concern. The optics of the 2oo miners arriving in Canada is so increadibly stupid in so may ways I cant fathom what ANY politician hopes to gain from this. This isnt over by a long shot.
The media should be all over the politicians to explain WHY they have agreed to allow this. If Canada has unemployed miners drawing E.I. then they should be given 2 choices. Take the job offered or we will be forced to give it to a “guest worker” AND if you refuse to take the job your E.I. is cut off.
Prevoius statements that essentially say ‘Harper is the antichrist” are totally counterproductive name calling….lets have a good, legitimate discussion.
I also worked at menial, part time,crappy minimum wage($1.85/hr when I started working at age 15) jobs when I went to school. Didnt go to university, never saw the point. Worked my way up through many different occupations and careers. Some good some bad. Always learning something at each job. Imported workers are here to stay. For good or bad, thats the new reality.
The Canadian medical system is bleeding a slow painful death( sorry for the allegorical comparison). The federal govt has dumped this fiscal millstone around the necks of the provinces because they see the looming demographical timebomb. In the next 15 years 35% of the population will be over 65. Me included…Ugh!
Pensioners that wont be working so they wont be contributing payroll taxes. Pensioners typically purchase less commodities..so sales taxes will be reduced. Old people get sicker, longer…. Billions upon billions of tax dollars gone….just when the beloved health care system will need it the most….
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Laila, sorry for filling your comments section this time, wasnt my intent…… I’ll be good.
Beer beckons.
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It is not just 2000 chinese workers comming here, it is over 400,000 PER YEAR. In total we get over 500,000 immigrants per year. Do not be hoodwinked. We are being invaded. It is over 1.75% of our population per year. Of course, not all are milking us dry. Study this real issue.
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Ok, to be fair, these are two completely seperate issues Dave. Immigration is an issue on it’s own to deal with and deserves a seperate space.And I find it offensive your inference that we are being invaded by immigrants… hell my family immigrated here along with pretty much everyone else in this country if you go back to our origins.
Now, the matter of foreign companies specifically being allowed to bring in foreign workers under a completely government sanctioned farce of a policy is a completely different matter. Having blogged about this last year, and no one really paid attention to it – It was actually Bobby Deepak from Prince George who brought it to my attention, and he has gone onto become a candidate for the NDP up there – it’s funny now to watch all the outrage. Kind of like well its ok for 100 workers to come… but not this many. It was BS then, and it’s still BS now. Its also another alarming move in a series of policies and allowances that both provincial and federal governments created that threaten our national sovereignty.Nice to see the msm press finally catch up!!
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