Windsor Essex Border Task Force to present a Petition to Essex MP Chris Lewis at Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd, March 19, 2021 at 12:00p
The essential workers who “make things that make things” such as medical devices, hospital beds, food storage containers, automobile and truck parts need to cross the border to allow for a functioning supply chain network.
Windsor-Essex Border Task Force represented by CAMM, CTMA and Automate Canada initiated a petition to the Parliament of Canada for the purposes of Essential Canada-U.S. Workers and Cross Border Travel:
The request is simple and reasonable. We are not asking for wide open borders; we are merely wanting our essential work to be recognized and for border crossings to be allowed so we can fulfill our contractual obligations as part of Manufacturing in Canada
“We stepped up in times of need. From wartime to pandemic, manufacturing is essential,” says Jonathan Azzopardi, CAMM chair. “We may be at the start of the supply chain but without us, the end products couldn’t be produced. We were deemed essential for a reason. So, to be blocked at the border and asked to quarantine for 14 days makes no sense. It isn’t reasonable or fair.”
The petition includes a request for amendments to the current Federal Orders in Council related to current measures with respect to the Canada-US border to allow the free movement of “Essential workers” as determined under the Provincial Legislation OReg. 82/20 Section 1 and section 23. The Province has the authority and has defined us as essential under this legislation.
Our petition merely asks for recognition at the federal level of this status.
“Our members are desperately working to not only assist suppliers and clients later in the supply chain but we have also stepped up to help when medical items were needed,” says Rob Cattle, Executive Director of CTMA. “There seems to be some crossed wires and we respectfully ask for our government to step up to help these essential workers. Workers who are the lifeblood of a manufacturing supply chain.”
The Task Force is asking the Windsor-Essex community, people of the Province of Ontario and the people of Canada to support this petition.
The Task Force represents Manufacturing (OEM’s and supply chains) as well as two major Advanced Manufacturing clusters Tool, Die, Mold and Gauging and Automation Manufacturers as well as Professionals, Technical and Business Owners with US Work Visas.
Beyond providing essential items later in the supply chain, the diverse sectors within Manufacturing in Ontario and Windsor-Essex also provide so much more to our communities and our country. The Tool, Die, Mold and Gauging and Automation Manufacturers:
•Contribute to a combined Canadian Manufacturing GDP of $30.8B (Motor Vehicles $6.5B, Motor Vehicle Parts $8.9B, Aerospace: $8.2B and Automation (including Tooling): $7.2B
•Provide 188,000 jobs in Manufacturing (OEM’s and supply chains)
• Provide over 58,000 well- paying and middle-class jobs across Canada and over 80% is exported to the U.S. which is currently at risk.
•Generates $3.3B in GDP alone in Windsor-Essex, including 1000+ Manufacturers, 90+ Auto and Parts Manufacturers including 2 OEM’s and 250+ Machine, Tool, Die and Mold, Gauging Manufacturers. This does not include the businesses that service supply services to these organizations.
This petition also includes thousands of Windsor-Essex Professionals, Technical and Business Owners with US Work Visas who generate over $1B to the GDP annually in U.S. exports.
And finally, our health and safety record is a stellar one.
We practice safe and strict workplace protocols. In Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) Manufacturing related COVID 19 Cases, only .065% of the cases in all the Ontario workplaces stemmed from manufacturing.
