News from the Campaign Office of Niagara Centre MPP Malcolm Allen
Thorold, Ontario, October 8th, 2015 – NDP candidate Malcolm Allen and the Seafarers International Union of Canada (SIU) President James Given hosted a press conference today regarding SIU’s fight against the Harper government’s decision to give away more Canadian jobs.
Niagara Centre MPP Malcolm Allen speaks for protecting Seafarers jobs
“I’ve talked to a lot of folks this campaign—if there’s a primary concern among residents, it’s jobs and job security,” stated Allen, NDP candidate for the Niagara Centre riding. “ We’re against using the Temporary Foreign Worker to take away Canadian jobs and give them to low paid foreign workers.”
SIU launched two lawsuits last week challenging the issuing of temporary foreign work permits, as Canadian law states that domestic ships may only use foreign workers if no qualified Canadian workers are available. It is currently estimated that 25% of Canadian maritime workers are unemployed.
“It’s unacceptable that our members remain unemployed, while temporary foreign workers are being hired at $2 per hour,” noted Given, SIU Canada President.
In the 2011 Federal Election, SIU publicly endorsed Conservative candidates. Sadly after four years of broken promises and flagrant disregard for Canadian legislation the SIU now realizes what the Harper Conservatives do and what they say is not the same.
Seafarers International Union president James Given
“The outright neglect of Canadian workers on the Seaway is proof enough for our members,” stated Given. SIU has chosen to endorse Allen and the NDP because they will stand up for the rights of workers. “Allen has a long history of fighting for jobs and workers—we can trust him to keep his word,” Given stated.
Over 2,100 Canadian jobs have been lost to temporary foreign workers since 2013. Despite dozens of letters written to Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Chris Alexander and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Steven Blaney since 2013, the government has yet to act on the SIU’s concerns.
“The system is broken. We need to make sure that Canadians who are ready and willing to work are given the first opportunity to do this work and are paid according to Canadian standards ,” said Allen.
Malcolm Allen has served as Member of Parliament for Niagara Centre, which includes the communities of Welland, Thorold, Port Colborne and parts of Wainfleet and St. Catharines, since 2008. He has also served as Official Opposition Critic for Agriculture and Agri-Food and lead on the Public Accounts Committee as well as Ontario Caucus Chair for the NDP.
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Niagara At Large 
Harper replaces Canadian coal miners with Chinese workers, now Harper replaces Canadian sailors. Who is next? Harper is selling out Canada
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Liberal Paul Martin did the same when he controlled Canadian Steamship Lines and he registered the ships in third world countries to evade Union interference.. This man cut so much of the safety net he literally was in my opinion just another HARPER.
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The Chinese get contracted for the most dangerous jobs. They lost one man for roughly every mile of railway track construction in Canada before that last spike was driven in 1885. Mr. Harper knows how to shelter the retirees and the disabled (of which the baby-boomers now comprise the majority), while bringing in new and ambitious immigrant workers and taxpayers to support the faltering social safety net.
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The use of Chinese manpower to build the railway is a blackmark in Canadian history
Are you saying that Harper should allow corporations to repeat a negative period of Canadian history? We should learn from history not repeat the negatives.
You sound like harper. Harper is friendly with the oppressors who treat women as second class citizens or worse while being critical of women whom Harper feels to be oppressed
You are trying to promote two or more levels of immigrants by stating today’s immigrant is a more ambitious than earlier groups of migrants. You are blowing and sucking at the same time.
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We the people of Canada do not have a clue what job destructive goodies the TPP has in store for us, the last deal that was foisted on us was the NAFTA, the deal from the bowels of hell itself, the US have kept out, our wheat, pork, a huge tariff on our lumber ( $1 billion dollars) and they lost their case but refuse to give us our money back, potatoes, beef they love our oil, they get a 30% discount on that against world price, sending the rest of our jobs overseas is not beneficial to our economy. We the people tried last time to “Lyin Brian” to shove his deal where the sun don’t shine, we did not fight back, we had better kill this deal.
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