Speech (House debate)

{
    "time": "2017-05-12 13:25:00",
    "attribution": {
        "en": "Mr. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood\u2014Transcona, NDP)",
        "fr": "M. Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood\u2014Transcona, NPD)"
    },
    "content": {
        "en": "<p data-HoCid=\"4870899\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I am really glad to finally get a chance to weigh in again on the Bill <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a> debate. It has been a very long wait, so it is good to see that the process is back in action.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870900\" data-originallang=\"en\">As I mentioned in some of my questions previously on this bill, it is a bit of a mystery to me, given the content of the government's opinion with respect to the amendments coming from the other place, why it essentially took 11 months to get back to this place, particularly when previously, in the debate last spring, the government was very anxious to move the bill through the House. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870901\" data-originallang=\"en\">At that time, the government made arguments essentially to the effect that the sky would fall if we did not get these amendments in place. Of course, we know now that the sky did not fall. What did happen was that it created a significant period, still ongoing, of legal uncertainty for prospective bargaining agents. That has made it very difficult for them to be able to organize properly. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870902\" data-originallang=\"en\">We are now in a situation, as of the beginning of April, where there are two applicant now, one to represent RCMP members across the country, which would be consistent with what is in Bill <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a>, but because Bill <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a> is not law, and again I repeat that is due to delays on the government's part, having had amendments from the other place as early as June 21 of last year, there is also an application from an association to represent members from Quebec alone. If Bill <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a> passes in its current form, that would not be allowed.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870903\" data-originallang=\"en\">Because of dithering on the Liberal side with respect to getting this done, and the companion legislation Bill <a data-HoCid=\"8073132\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-4/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act\">C-4</a> as well, which gets rid of some bills from the previous Parliament affecting certification and decertification of unions, we are now in a real mess.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870904\" data-originallang=\"en\"> I think the government risks the perception, at least, of interfering in an ongoing certification process, because it is now trying to advance legislation which, had it passed earlier, there would be no question about it and there would be no problem. Now, because there is an application for regional representation within the RCMP, the government may be perceived by some as taking sides as to which organization should represent members in Quebec or any other region of the province that has an organization apply to represent either members of a certain province or certain region in the meantime.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870905\" data-originallang=\"en\">That is why it was really important, as the government itself argued last spring, to get this legislation through. That is why we in the NDP were happy to help move that legislation through and work with the government to meet its timeline, while nevertheless improving the legislation, for instance, by taking out the needless and prejudicial exclusions on bargaining that were included in the original part of the legislation, and which the other place saw fit to remove.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870906\" data-originallang=\"en\">Now the government is indicating that maybe it thinks it is not a bad idea to get rid of those, although it is replacing them with some other language. As the member for <a data-HoCid=\"214409\" href=\"/politicians/larry-maguire/\" title=\"Larry Maguire\">Brandon\u2014Souris</a> indicated, we only saw notice of that motion yesterday late in the evening. It is early to try to provide detailed comment on that. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870907\" data-originallang=\"en\">Mr. Speaker, I will resume my comments on Tuesday, when hopefully I will have been able to take the time to examine the response in more detail.</p>",
        "fr": "<p data-HoCid=\"4870899\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, je suis vraiment content de pouvoir enfin intervenir \u00e0 nouveau sur le projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a>. L'attente a \u00e9t\u00e9 longue et je me r\u00e9jouis de voir le processus se remettre en branle.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870900\" data-originallang=\"en\">Comme je l'ai mentionn\u00e9 dans des interventions pr\u00e9c\u00e9dentes sur ce projet de loi, je n'arrive pas \u00e0 comprendre, \u00e9tant donn\u00e9 l'opinion du gouvernement par rapport aux amendements propos\u00e9s par le S\u00e9nat, qu'il ait fallu 11 mois pour que le projet de loi revienne \u00e0 la Chambre, d'autant plus que le gouvernement s'est montr\u00e9 tr\u00e8s impatient de faire adopter le projet de loi durant le d\u00e9bat, au printemps dernier. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870901\" data-originallang=\"en\">\u00c0 ce moment-l\u00e0, le gouvernement a fait valoir essentiellement que le ciel allait nous tomber sur la t\u00eate si les modifications n'\u00e9taient pas \u00eatre mises en oeuvre. Bien entendu, ce ne fut pas le cas. Soulignons toutefois qu'en raison des circonstances, les futurs agents n\u00e9gociateurs ont fait face \u00e0 une longue p\u00e9riode de flou juridique, qui se poursuit toujours, ce qui leur a passablement compliqu\u00e9 la t\u00e2che en mati\u00e8re d'organisation. </p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870902\" data-originallang=\"en\">Et voil\u00e0 maintenant qu'il y a deux parties int\u00e9ress\u00e9es depuis le d\u00e9but d'avril, l'une qui repr\u00e9senterait les membres de la GRC de l'ensemble du pays, ce qui s'inscrit dans le droit fil du projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a>. Cependant, comme celui-ci n'est pas encore devenu loi \u2014 ce qui, je le rappelle, est d\u00fb \u00e0 l'inaction du gouvernement, lequel a entre les mains les amendements du S\u00e9nat depuis le 21 juin de l'an dernier \u2014, une autre association a pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 une demande pour repr\u00e9senter les membres du Qu\u00e9bec seulement. Or, la version actuelle du projet de loi <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\">C-7</a> n'autorise pas une telle chose. <a data-HoCid=\"8126682\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-7/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Public Service Labour Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board Act and other Acts and to provide for certain other measures\"></a></p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870903\" data-originallang=\"en\">En raison de l'h\u00e9sitation des lib\u00e9raux \u00e0 en finir avec ce projet de loi, ainsi qu'avec le projet de loi compl\u00e9mentaire <a data-HoCid=\"8073132\" href=\"/bills/42-1/C-4/\" title=\"An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act\">C-4</a>, qui vise \u00e0 annuler certaines mesures adopt\u00e9es \u00e0 la l\u00e9gislature pr\u00e9c\u00e9dente concernant l'accr\u00e9ditation des syndicats et la r\u00e9vocation de cette accr\u00e9ditation, nous sommes maintenant aux prises avec un v\u00e9ritable g\u00e2chis.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870904\" data-originallang=\"en\"> Je crois que le gouvernement risque d'\u00eatre \u00e0 tout le moins per\u00e7u comme s'ing\u00e9rant dans un processus d'accr\u00e9ditation en cours, car il tente maintenant de faire adopter un projet de loi qui, s'il avait \u00e9t\u00e9 adopt\u00e9 plus t\u00f4t, ne soul\u00e8verait aucune question. Si le projet de loi avait \u00e9t\u00e9 adopt\u00e9 plus t\u00f4t, il n'y aurait pas de probl\u00e8me. Or, puisqu'une demande de repr\u00e9sentation r\u00e9gionale de la GRC a \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9sent\u00e9e, le gouvernement risque entretemps de donner l'impression qu'il favorise une organisation pour repr\u00e9senter les membres du Qu\u00e9bec ou de toute autre r\u00e9gion ou province qui fera l'objet d'une demande de repr\u00e9sentation de la part d'une organisation.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870905\" data-originallang=\"en\">Voil\u00e0 pourquoi il \u00e9tait vraiment important, comme le faisait valoir le gouvernement lui-m\u00eame au printemps dernier, d'adopter le projet de loi rapidement. C'est pour cette raison que les n\u00e9o-d\u00e9mocrates \u00e9taient heureux d'aider \u00e0 faire adopter le projet de loi et de travailler avec le gouvernement pour qu'il puisse respecter ses d\u00e9lais. Nous avons tout de m\u00eame cherch\u00e9 \u00e0 am\u00e9liorer le projet de loi, notamment en supprimant les exclusions inutiles et pr\u00e9judiciables en mati\u00e8re de n\u00e9gociation qui faisaient partie de la version initiale du projet de loi et que l'autre endroit a convenu qu'il valait mieux supprimer.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870906\" data-originallang=\"en\">Maintenant, le gouvernement trouve que ce n'est pas une mauvaise id\u00e9e de se d\u00e9barrasser de ces exclusions, m\u00eame s'il les remplace par d'autres formulations. Comme l'a indiqu\u00e9 le d\u00e9put\u00e9 de <a data-HoCid=\"214409\" href=\"/politicians/larry-maguire/\" title=\"Larry Maguire\">Brandon\u2014Souris</a>, nous n'avons \u00e9t\u00e9 avis\u00e9s de la motion qu'en fin de soir\u00e9e hier. Il est donc trop t\u00f4t pour en parler de mani\u00e8re d\u00e9taill\u00e9e.</p>\n<p data-HoCid=\"4870907\" data-originallang=\"en\">Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, je vais poursuivre mes observations mardi, une fois que j'aurai eu le temps, du moins je l'esp\u00e8re, d'examiner la r\u00e9ponse propos\u00e9e plus en d\u00e9tail.</p>"
    },
    "url": "/debates/2017/5/12/daniel-blaikie-5/",
    "politician_url": "/politicians/daniel-blaikie/",
    "politician_membership_url": "/politicians/memberships/4407/",
    "procedural": false,
    "source_id": "9528437",
    "h1": {
        "en": "Government Orders",
        "fr": "Initiatives Minist\u00e9rielles"
    },
    "h2": {
        "en": "Public Service Labour Relations Act",
        "fr": "La Loi sur les relations de travail dans la fonction publique"
    },
    "document_url": "/debates/2017/5/12/",
    "related": {
        "document_speeches_url": "/speeches/?document=%2Fdebates%2F2017%2F5%2F12%2F"
    }
}