Gil McGowan, Alberta Federation of Labour president, discusses the AFL’s concerns over the provincial government’s foreign worker recruitment efforts.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Michael Higgins: Let’s start on this issue of recruiting workers. You’ve written a letter to the premier demanding answers on this what? Why is this troubling from your organization’s standpoint?
Gil McGowan: There are two words that come to mind. The first is irony, because it was just a few weeks ago that Premier Danielle Smith was lambasting the federal Liberals for bringing in too many non-permanent residents to Canada, and she basically said that it was overwhelming our labour markets, driving inflation. And she’s right; she’s right on those points.
But now, just a few weeks later, we find out that her own government is organizing a recruiting trip overseas to the United Arab Emirates, and basically the (United Conservative) government is helping employers find temporary foreign workers in the Middle East to bring …