Ehhhhh……Chinese firms don’t exactly have a good safety record in regards to modern mines.

I still think its a really bad idea to allow these foreign companies into Canada to buy up all our resources….

Just doesn’t feel right.

That is an interesting juxtaposition from Mr Bell. On the one hand he says that temporary workers are being brought from China because there are no suitably qualified Canadian workers, and on the other hand he says that should the jobs become permanent qualified Canadian workers will be at the front of the line. Would those qualified Canadian workers at the front of the line be the same ones that he says do not exist?

This whole thing started 4 years ago, were was the training then and the ads this company ran offered these jobs to canadians at $21.00 an hour no wonder underground miners did not apply. They low ball the wage and no camp offered its a joke. Leave it in the ground lets see if this company will fund training canadian workers….

“The government says work in underground coal mines is highly mechanized and requires a technical, specialized workforce, something Canada does not have.”

Here’s a crazy idea Mr. Bell… stop me if I sound out of line…. how about you educate some Canadians to do the job? Send some Canadians to China for training and then they can come back and do the job.

What’s the rush? The coal isn’t going anywhere. It’s been there for quite some time now and doesn’t have a “best before” date stamped on the top of the hillside.

$21.00 an hour is a fortune to a chinese worker. Welcome to the global economy. And don’t forget to support your local Walmart.

I wonder if there is a bunch of coal miners in the maritime provinces that would like to move to BC.

This is the tip of the ‘globalisation’ iceberg that the BC Liberals are still hopelessly committed to.

First comes the unfettered movement of international finance ‘Capital’. Then there’s to be the increased unfettering of international ‘labour’ provision.

So all those clowns in those short-sighted, Liberal backing organisations such as the Truck Loggers, who are plumping for exporting raw logs to the highest bidder anywhere in the world to fatten the contractor’s take, are going to wake up one day and find they’re suddenly competing with a contractor from China or Mexico or wherever, with THEIR nationals, at THEIR wages, provisioned to a large extent by THEIR countries, on OUR hillsides logging OUR timber.

Welcome to the future niceties of ‘global capitalism’ ~ which is NOT, and never can be, equated with genuine ‘free enterprise’. Not so long as it involves prices being set for the ultimate product through the manipulation of international currency exchange rates rather than by actual efficiency in the use of both Capital and Labour.

It is a fortune only if transportation to work, food, and lodging as well as specialized clothing are all paid for by the company and the $21/hour can be sent home. It would not be a fortune for a Canadian worker, but it would certainly be worth people’s while to take those jobs.

So, in the North American continent, especially in the USA and all of Canada there are not the so-called “specialized workers” for this type of job?

Then train those who are already trained and experienced to do jobs that are similar. What does it take? Days, weeks, months, years? Ask the right questions.

And if it does not work? Well, guess what, our NAFTA agreement is with the USA I thought. I also thought there are agreements in place that give people from the USA first dibs at such opportunities if Canadians cannot fill the jobs. We have agreements in place for cross border workers if a shortage exists.

This is a foot in the door which will open the door more and more.

So, how is our guest worker program working throughout Canada? Let us see where else this is going on and what the exact conditions are.

For example, while these people are in Canada, what is being done to train Canadians to do this work by learning from the “experts” and what is being done to provide those Canadians with employment in China if there is not enough to go around in Canada? It is not as if we do not have Canadians working in China already.

“I wonder if there is a bunch of coal miners in the maritime provinces that would like to move to BC.”

That is where they came from in the past, or the south eastern part of BC.

Coal mining, however, in North America has gone into a slump.

Newfoundland/Labrador has its own oil rush now and is filling up its coffers with liquid black gold. No more equalization payments for that province.

http://www.coalwatch.ca/chinese-nationals-brought-work-bc-coal-mines

Time to train some communications people in Canada to work for government. Seems that the feds, provinces and cities are getting together to hide things as long as they can from people who “hire” these people to do our work for us in running an open government, not a closed one like we all think China has.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
“Stephen Hunt, western director for the United Steelworkers union, ridiculed Tuesday the suggestion Canadians couldn’t be trained to work underground.
“Bullshit,” he said of Cavanagh’s assertions.
“That’s just a cop-out, a way to bring in guest workers who are going to go into a camp, contribute virtually nothing to the economy, and then when they’re done they’ll be sent back to China,” he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Why are we in such a rush to give away our finite resources?
Chinese workers making $21/hour?! What a joke. First – the feds said they can be paid 15% less. 2nd. – they will pay room & board. 3rd. – they will pay transportation over here and back. Then there will be more middle men. I wonder how much would actually get into their pockets when all is said and done.

Denaljo: “First – the feds said they can be paid 15% less. 2nd. – they will pay room & board. 3rd. – they will pay transportation over here and back. Then there will be more middle men. I wonder how much would actually get into their pockets when all is said and done.”

Assuming everything you say is true, it will probably be at least 10x what they could make at home.

I’ve heard of a similar kind of thing where Canadians go and work in places like Dubai because they’re paid at a higher rate than they would be here and pay less tax, etc. Why is it different when Chinese workers come here?

“Chinese Hirings Temporary Says Bell”

Pat Bell’s Job is Temporary Says the Voters of BC

“I’ve heard of a similar kind of thing where Canadians go and work in places like Dubai because they’re paid at a higher rate than they would be here and pay less tax, etc. Why is it different when Chinese workers come here”

Dubai is free to do what they want and if they want to expand their job market to foreigners, then by all means they can.

As a Canadian, I would sure as heck hope that OUR governments would look out for Canadian citizens first and if we don’t have people here who can already do the jobs, train people so they can. If we have tried that and it still doesn’t meet the demand, then give people from the US the first crack before going offshore.

Global economy or not, Chinese residents have no inherent right to work in BC or Canada. They are allowed to work here solely as a result of government policy decisions. In this case it would seem pretty clear that the government has decided to give higher priority to employing offshore workers than British Columbians or Canadians. Why exactly is that and what does that say about their integrity and loyalty to the office they serve?

I wonder if they will count these as “jobs created” even though they don’t employ any Canadians . . .

Interesting that nobody’s picked up on the fact that these “Immigrant” workers will be brought in to do the job. While they are here, they apply for citizenship. When they are accepted as Canadian Citizens, they continue their employment as Canadians.

JohnnyBelt:-“I’ve heard of a similar kind of thing where Canadians go and work in places like Dubai because they’re paid at a higher rate than they would be here and pay less tax, etc. Why is it different when Chinese workers come here?”
—————————————

Do the people of Dubai have the same kind of fetish with ‘jobs’ for Dubai nationals that we do here in Canada? Or does their government see to it that the people of Dubai are provided with adequate ‘incomes’ to live quite comfortably on without the supposed ‘moral’ necessity of having to work for them, now that the ‘economic’ necessity to actually HAVE to do that has largely passed? Just asking.

The reason there aren’t any canadain long wall coal
Miners available is no one wants to do the job. Would you want to mine a coal stope 4 feet high.

There are approx 5000 fatalities per year in coal mines in China, from fire, floods, and explosions.

I feel that we should allow politicians from China to come to BC and run the Provincial government on a temporary basis as it seems we don’t have qualified people for the position of MLA. We could have these replacements until the next provincial election. They would be paid $21 an hour with no goldplated pension and benifits. This would be a substantial saving to the taxpayers of BC since MLAs only sit once a year for a few weeks. Of course they would only be paid for the time the sat in the house. Then we could retrain our politicians to properly represent their constituants in Victoria. How about an apprenticeship for budding MLAs? Paid for by the government of course.

I sure hope these imported Chinese workers (if and when they go home) don’t exaggerate stories about all our homeless people. All these Chinese workers gonna have to leave kin at home to insure their prompt return? Bad decision. Based on the fact income tax was only “temporary” too.

What a line of pure Bull. Here we go, we will import workers who don’t have English as a second language, and place them in a mine where split timing and clear instructions could mean the difference between getting a job done or avoiding a serious incident that would cost lives. Mr. Bell are you serious? Give your head a shake! My uncle was one of the few people who were responsible for getting “areas of refuge” instituted in B.C. mines. He was born in Canada and worked in the mines around the Cranbrook area for years. A mine is no where to try to learn English!

I really think this importing “China” to Canada is going a bit too far, or should I say selling Canada out to “China”. Enough already, we have the man power, we can train our own population here, to work here. Canada for Canadians, British Columbia for the people of B.C.. Humm maybe it’s time to move?

These workers are being allowed to work the coal mines for two reasons;
1) they will work for less money
2) chinese ownership of the mine.

Mr. Bell will say anything to avoid a fight. Like all politicians, he is a hypocrite.

Our governments are selling all of us out.
Of course the leaders don’t care, they and there families are well looked after, and have financially secure futures guaranteed.
Most of us do not have that, no matter how long we work, or how well we plan and save, we do not have a fat, guaranteed pension, indexed to the “cost of living”
metalman.

The Income Tax War Act of 1917 was “temporary” to cover the costs of WWI

This income tax act, with many updates, survives to this day.

Is it possible that there is a similarity
between the two?

China certainly has a lot of coal mining deaths. They also have a lot of people.

One of the measures which is not often used, but which tells a story about the number of small mines which are not that highly mechanized is the following:

China has an estimated 5 million working in coal mines with around 2,433 deaths in 2010 and dropping every year since 2003.

The USA has fewer than 100,000 coal miners with 48 deaths (2010)

Thus the rate is 1 death per 2055 workers for China and 1 death per 2083 workers in the USA …..

Different mines, differnt orders of magnitude, different use of technology.

We have to remember where China was and is compared to western countries.

It is called context knowledge.

Welcome to the BC liberal world of multinational monopoly capitalism.

Globalization of finance and labor is about selling out the future of the next generations for the quick profit of banksters and their political minions.

Its treason and Chairman Harper is leading the cohorts of neocons with guys like Pat Bell doing their part.

IMO our society is in great danger from the actions of our media, politicians, and finance over the last two decades in their drive for globalization for the lowest common denominator.

Our only hope is to elect true free enterprise independent (none party affiliated) politicians that understand the concept of small business competition and ownership building a society that equalizes opportunity through regulations that restrict the monopolization of industry, media, and capital… a society that rewards merit of the individual and not the legacy of the corrupt.