Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 14th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

It might not be bad.

Once the writ's dropped, they could be ordered back to work. There's all kinds of solutions.

Mr. Preston.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

It's a solution, but what if the contract was up before a scheduled election. The same thing occurs. If we're on strike, we can't run an election without the trained Elections Canada staff. If we can, we don't need them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Proulx, and then Mrs. Redman.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

There's another problem, in the sense that Elections Canada does not work only when there's an election coming. It's an ongoing preparation system.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mrs. Redman, and then Mr. Hill.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

But is part of this discussion about including binding arbitration? Is that part of what this discussion is? Because I have to say I do take some comfort—

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

He said he couldn't, because it was all part of one bargaining unit.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Okay, so that's off the table because of Mr. Proulx's comment.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Hill, and then Mr. Reid.

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

In reference to Mr. Godin's comments, and to a certain extent to Mr. Proulx's comments about these workers already being represented, unless we had information to the contrary, we would have to assume that whatever benefits were negotiated through a strike, or hopefully through negotiation, would flow to these employees, regardless of whether this particular group's rights were restricted.

In response to Mr. Godin, I would think that if we were to do this and it was found in hindsight to be against their charter rights, the courts would overturn it and make that decision.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Reid.

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Yes, if they challenge it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Am I not right? Are there not categories that exist in the public service right now where someone's in a bargaining unit, a category of workers—

[An hon. member]

NAV CAN.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

You said NAV CAN is as an example—considered essential. They don't lose the right to strike per se—

[Jay Hill, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River, BC]

Essential services, yes.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

—in the sense that the benefit of having a right to strike continues for them. Others can go on strike, and they benefit from whatever settlement comes and is strengthened by the existence of that right. But they are not actually participants in the strike and are not breaking ranks with the union and their fellow workers if they continue to work during the strike.

Am I right? I think that's what is being proposed here. Correct?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I think that's exactly right. He wants them listed as essential service.

I should note that this has come up a number of times before, and the committees have been divided on it.

Let's continue the discussion for a bit longer, and then we'll call the question.

Mrs. Redman.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I'm predisposed, because of some of the new information here, to have some support for this. Excuse me for having missed several meetings, so maybe everybody else knows this, but it doesn't strike me that this is reviewed with much regularity. So I would be willing to do this if somewhere in this report we make a recommendation about when this whole act would be reviewed, so if for some reason designating them as an essential service ends up being something we didn't expect, there would be a point in time when it would be reviewed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

A sunset clause or something?

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Yes. A sunset clause is far more compelling than a review period. But at some point in this discussion, and probably not here, I wouldn't mind having that debated a bit.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Godin and Mr. Simard.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I just want to be clear with Mr. Hill. I don't think that if you take the right of strike away, it's against the Charter of Rights. In the Charter of Rights, they have the right to be in the union. With that you have some benefits, and one of them is that how you get a collective agreement is through a strike. I'm not saying that they will go against it. I don't want to be misinterpreted on it.

Having said that, when we look at something like this, we have to have something to replace it that is fair. I don't want them to have the right to be in the union but not have any tools to be able to negotiate a contract because they were from Elections Canada. The way it's proposed right now, it's as if you remove their right but you don't give them anything else.