Federal Job-Site Immigration Enforcement Needs a Public Ledger

If federal tax dollars touch a construction site, Ottawa should be able to show who checked the rules, what was found, and what happened next.

Ottawa likes ribbon cuttings. It likes infrastructure announcements. What it still has not shown is the enforcement ledger proving that publicly funded construction sites are not becoming a hiding place for undocumented labour, cash pay, unsafe work and subcontractor abuse.

The issue landed in the House of Commons on May 28, 2026, during Committee of the Whole debate on Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s Main Estimates. Conservative MP Kyle Seeback pressed Immigration Minister Lena Diab about “undocumented workers on federal construction sites” and cited four workers he said had been identified by the Canada Border Services Agency at the Calgary event centre project.

Seeback then widened the question from one site to the accountability system. He cited allegations from Alberta labour groups involving cash payment, forged safety certifications, no workers’ compensation coverage and threats of deportation, and asked Diab to name one investigation or one departmental action. Diab answered in general terms about reducing temporary workers, tightening integrity measures and protecting vulnerable workers. She did not provide a project-specific enforcement file, contractor name, penalty, referral count or result.

This is exactly where conservative accountability should be clear and fair. The target is not law-abiding immigrants. The target is a government that spends public money while failing to prove basic site integrity. Undocumented workers can be exploited by the same weak enforcement that cheats Canadian tradespeople, undercuts lawful employers and turns safety rules into paperwork theatre. Honest contractors and taxpayers deserve a level field too.

Juno News reported the exchange as a Liberal failure to say how many undocumented workers are on federally funded construction sites. That is the core problem: Ottawa’s answer should not depend on one MP catching one minister in one estimates debate. If IRCC, CBSA, Employment and Social Development Canada, Labour Program officials and federal infrastructure departments all touch the system, Parliament should see the combined dashboard.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government is restoring order to immigration and building the country. Then publish the job-site ledger. Show Canadians that public infrastructure dollars do not flow through layers of subcontractors until nobody knows who is on site, who is being paid legally, who is covered if injured, and who is enforcing the rules. No ledger, no confidence. No receipts, no ribbon cutting.