As Douglas Channel Watch (DCW) and Enbridge battle for voters ahead of the Kitimat plebiscite, a back-and-forth on words is taking place.
Murray Minchin with DCW told local media that a relative of his had an Enbridge employee come to her door and that employee said “he could guarantee there would be no temporary foreign workers.”
We asked Enbridge’s communications whether that would have been said by local representatives.
Ivan Giesbrecht, the company’s manager of communications, said he doesn’t know the specifics of what might have been said, but repeated the company’s commitment to local hires.
“However, I can tell you that our goal is, and always has been, to hire as many local people as possible to build and operate Northern Gateway. Northern Gateway will create 180 high paying, long-term operational jobs that will be based in Kitimat.”
Minchin provided selected transcripts from the Joint Review Panel process which had a company representative saying that “there are cycles in the economy where they [pipeline contractors] do need to recruit and have foreign -- employ foreign worker programs.”
Those comments were directed towards construction-phase jobs.