SASKATOON – Bank of Montreal shareholders grilled CEO Bill Downe at the bank’s annual meeting today about the issue of outsourcing Canadian jobs to foreign workers.
They called for clarity on BMO’s practices in light of the controversy around foreign workers doing Canadian jobs at Royal Bank of Canada.
It came to light this week that RBC, the country’s biggest bank, hired U.S. outsourcing firm iGate to provide certain technology services — a decision that affects 45 current Royal Bank employees.
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One shareholder at the BMO meeting in Saskatoon said she wants to feel proud to invest in an ethical bank that does not “hollow out” the Canadian middle class.
Downe says Bank of Montreal does use the federal temporary foreign worker program, but only to fill short-term job gaps.
He says BMO has a framework in place to ensure the bank complies with the letter and spirit of the controversial federal program.
Downe said the vast majority of the jobs that BMO creates are in Canada and the United States, where it has been growing its presence in recent years.
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