Officials involved in the $15-billion deal to bring new Honda auto plants to Ontario acknowledge that some foreign workers will be needed to set up the plants, but they will look to "maximize" Canadian jobs.Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans for a Honda electric vehicle battery plant in Alliston, Ont., on Thursday.
The practice of foreign workers coming in to work on auto plants — which have received tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer support over the past several years — erupted into a political issue last fall when it was revealed the NextStar battery plant in Windsor would employ a number of South Koreans. Canada's Building Trades Unions Conservatives this week cited the NextStar case and argued the same thing could happen with Honda.
that Honda faced a challenge in meeting production timelines given the current availability of tradespeople in Canada.