Trudeau promises to protect EV plant construction jobs [Video]

GATINEAU, Que. –

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will do everything he can to protect local jobs, he promised Monday, as he met with a union concerned that foreign workers are taking Canadian jobs at a new electric-vehicle battery plant in southern Ontario.

His promise came as the Conservatives pushed him to make the contracts for six major EV projects in Canada public, to show what protections they include for unionized jobs.

Trudeau addressed a crowd of 500 construction union leaders from all provinces on Monday at the Canada’s Building Trade Unions annual conference, where he received a standing ovation.

During a 35-minute fireside chat with Sean Strickland, executive director of CBTU, Trudeau made a commitment that his Liberal government will strive to make sure most jobs linked to electric-vehicle projects in Canada stay local.

“So yes, it’s part and parcel of it that we expect that the construction, the installation, the maintenance be …