Mr. Speaker, I wish that I could commend the Minister of Employment and Social Development for the same level of broad consultation and action on the issue of temporary foreign workers. However, we will have a complete debate tomorrow on this topic, and the call for an independent audit by the Auditor General. I look forward to the support from the Government of Canada in the same way that it is starting to reach out on the issue of rail safety.

On April 1, I put a question to the Minister of Employment and Social Development about a concern brought to my attention by ironworkers who work in the oil sands in northern Alberta. Their concern was that 65 Canadian ironworkers were laid off and replaced by temporary foreign workers. Their concern is the dearth of oversight and enforcement in the delivery of the temporary foreign worker program.

Initially it was called the accelerated program in Alberta. There was a call by the industry that there was such a shortage of skilled workers that it should not have to do a labour market analysis, and so it was removed. That program has ended, and now there is a pilot project, which has been extended.

I look forward to a response, given the concerns and the government's response on the service sector, which some would think is heavy-handed. We hope that it is willing to look more widely and to do an in-depth review and consultation, in particular with the workers who are being impacted by this program.

On that day, April 1, the minister responded by alleging that all of the Canadian workers were immediately rehired. He also undertook that the government was going to throw the book at non-compliant employers who violated the temporary foreign worker rules. In fact, this was not what happened. Today I delivered a letter to the minister from the ironworkers, with a very clear outline of the facts of what has occurred on the site over the year.

The facts are that these layoffs were not identified by his department but were identified by the ironworkers themselves. That is their deepest concern, that there is simply no oversight. It was only brought to light when the Canadian workers approached me and I raised the matter with the minister.

As I have mentioned, the ironworkers have informed the minister. That was almost a month ago, and the minister undertook that he would do an investigation. A month later, my understanding is that there still has been no specific action against Imperial Oil, which employed these 65 Canadian ironworkers and then laid them off.

Among those Canadian workers was an aboriginal apprentice. There has been a lot of talk in the House about how the government is supporting Canadian companies to make apprenticeships available, particularly for aboriginal Canadians. This young man was in the middle of his apprenticeship. He has a young child. He was dismissed outright and had to find other work, which he eventually did.

If I were to backtrack, it was the fall of 2013 when the ironworkers were first approached. In the oil sands, there are apparently brokers who bring in both Canadian and temporary foreign workers. The broker had tried to get the ironworkers to certify and approve these workers, but they said, firstly, that they were not appropriately skilled, and, secondly, that there were a lot of Canadian workers that were ready, willing, and able to work on the site. Regardless, Canadians were employed and then removed from the site and replaced with temporary foreign workers.

We have a clear example of a breach of the rules. Sadly, prior to that there were up to 300 Canadian workers who were replaced by temporary foreign workers at another oil sands site.

I would like to hear from the government on what it has been doing over the last month, who has been sent to the site, who exactly is investigating, and when we can expect a response.

Linda Duncan

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