March 24, 2006

Labour

No panic yet over deportation issue

DON PROCTER

correspondent

Talk of the federal Tories giving the boot to all undocumented workers in Canada at this point might be just that: mostly talk.

A report in the Toronto Star this week indicated there is concern among immigration lawyers and consultants that illegal workers were being deported as the Conservatives abandon Liberal moves toward an amnesty plan.

However, major contractors and construction association leaders wonder if Stephen Harper’s government might be simply testing the waters for reaction from business leaders before it initiates a sweeping move to boot tens of thousands of construction workers out of Canada.

Nic Faienza, of Granolite Company Limited, a large exterior insulation and finishing systems (EIFS) contractor in the GTA, said his gut reaction is that is exactly what government might be up to.

“Are they really serious enough to send all of the undocumented workers (estimated at up to 15,000 in the GTA) packing?”

Patrick Dillon, business manager, Building & Construction Trades Council of Ontario, said when the George W. Bush government issued a similar credo to clean southern U.S. regions of illegal immigrants, there was a backlash from employers that caused the government to rethink the move.

“I think that is probably what will happen here.”

Many, if not most, undocumented workers in the construction industry are employed in the lowrise residential sector, said Hugh Laird, executive director of the Interior Systems Contractors Association of Ontario, a group representing wall and ceiling contractors.

Laird said if the Tories actually kick out all illegal immigrants, the blow might be softened by the fact that residential construction is expected to drop off by about five per cent this year in the GTA.

Faienza’s fear, however, is that if the feds send 15,000 workers in the construction industry packing, even if they are all in residential, the commercial sector would be seriously affected.

“When there is a shortage of labour in residential, workers shift from other sectors to fill the gap. It could slow the industry down quite a bit, especially in the non-union sector.”

Also, the value of a skilled worker would rise, meaning non-union sector employers would have to shell out more bucks to keep workers from jumping ship to the highest bidder, he said.

Laird said while ISCA and other construction associations lobbied the federal government for amnesty on undocumented workers several years ago, after 9/11, their efforts went for not.

He said he fears that contractors caught employing undocumented workers could face serious repercussions under the new Tory government.

Granolite employs a number of workers under a temporary work permit program called CREWS — Construction Recruitment External Workers Services — set up in 2001 by the federal Liberal government in conjunction with the Greater Toronto Home Builders Association to help alleviate the skilled labour shortage.

If the federal Tories send illegal workers packing, CREWS workers won’t be affected unless the government decides to dissolve the program, said Faienza.

“They pay their taxes; they even pay employment insurance and the funny thing is, if they are unemployed, they can’t even collect.”

Many illegal construction workers are employed in the underground economy. Dillon said one means of limiting the underground economy that his group and others have lobbied for is the creation of a registry for all construction workers in Ontario.

“We have to realize that keeping undocumented workers is supporting a false economy. At some point, if we all went undocumented, who would pay taxes?” said Dillon.

“At some point, if we all went undocumented, who would pay taxes?”

Patrick Dillon - Building & Construction Trades Council of Ontario

Print | Email | Comment