Cabinet yesterday confirmed it has begun issuing permits to foreign workers to build a taxpayer-funded electric auto battery plant in Windsor, Ont. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had promised subsidies for the Stellantis plant would create Canadian jobs.

“For the record one temporary foreign worker has been approved for this project,” said Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk (Windsor-Tecumseh, Ont.), parliamentary secretary for employment. Kusmierczyk would not comment on a statement by Windsor police that 1,600 South Koreans will eventually be hired in 2024 to build the plant.