Marcella Bernardo | Email news tips to Marcella
2/18/2013
 B.C's top labour leader is defending a new ad critical of the federal government's temporary foreign worker program.
BC Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair says there's nothing wrong with pointing out more attention should have been paid by various levels of government when more than 200 jobs, that could have been done by Canadians, were recently promised to lower-paid miners from China.
"It's not about the provincial election or even a federal election. It's about a complete opposition to a program that brings workers to Canada and exploits them. This is just one more attempt at us to raise these issues in the context of Canadians losing jobs to people brought in with no rights. It's just the wrong formula."
Sinclair says his organization has repeatedly asked for explanations from Ottawa about the failure of the temporary foreign worker program, but ongoing calls for a formal review have gone unanswered.
"I think people appreciate what the labour movement's been doing on this because clearly, the federal government in particular, has failed miserably on this front."
Sinclair says this program should only be used as a desperate last resort, but it is now being exploited by companies looking to save money.
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