Human Resources Committee on Nov. 26th, 2009

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Amendment G-2 says:

That Bill C-56, in clause 11, be amended by

(a) replacing line 4 on page 7 with the following:

11. Section 97 of the Act is replaced by the following:

(b), replacing line 12 on page 7 with the following:

duties of the Minister under this Part and Part VII.1.

(2) An officer or employee employed in connection with the administration of this Part, section 5, subsection 152.01(2) or (3) or any of sections 152.21 to 152.3 or any regulations made under section 5, 55, 152.26 or 152.28, if designated by the Minister for the purpose, may, in the course of their employment, administer oaths and take and receive affidavits, declarations and solemn affirmations for the purposes of or incidental to the administration or enforcement of this Act or the regulations, and every officer or employee so designated has for those purposes all the powers of a commissioner for administering oaths or taking affidavits.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you, Mr. Komarnicki.

I see “Section 97 of the Act is replaced”.... We're talking about replacing line 4 on page 7, and “by the following” is already on line 5. Do we need to delete “by the following”, since it's already in there?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

All right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I'll call the question on G-2.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Clause 11 as amended agreed to)

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Chair, we intend to vote against each clause and ultimately against the bill. Consequently, instead of intervening at each stage as is customary for us, I would like the record to show that we oppose the bill in its entirety, for the reasons I have given, and that we will be voting against it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Okay, thank you very much.

I'm going to group clauses 12 through 15 together.

(Clauses 12 to 15 inclusive agreed to)

(On clause 16)

We have NDP-1, which will be next in your package. I'm going to ask Mr. Martin to read it and then talk about the motion.

Mr. Martin.

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by adding after line 22 on page 13 the following:

(5) A self-employed person is not entitled to benefits under subsection (1) if ,

(a) over a period of more than one year, more than 95% of that person's income has derived from a single client: and

(b) in the opinion of the Commission, the relationship with the client is tantamount to an employer-employee relationship.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Could you explain it?

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Again, this flows from the testimony of witnesses who raised some serious concerns, so we're putting this forward. If we are not willing to respond in some way when we think there's a good idea that would make both the bill and public policy better, then why would we have committee hearings in the first place?

The amendment is designed to ensure that companies do not evade their responsibility to provide employees with employee insurance benefits. There are many cases of people who are treated as self-employed contractors by companies and with whom they have what amounts to a standard employer-employee relationship. Such arrangements allow a company to avoid paying regular benefits, including the employer's portion of EI premiums.

The bill as it currently stands creates an incentive for unscrupulous employers to move more of their employees into false self-employment so as to save on EI premium payments. This amendment will make that more difficult. I think it is a move that will protect workers, and it will protect the government in terms of the amount of money that will have to be paid out according to this act.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I'm going to rule this out of order because it goes beyond the scope of what is intended by the bill.

We're going to go now to G-3.

Mr. Komarnicki, would you like to read it into the record?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Okay. This is amendment G-3:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by replacing lines 19 to 23 on page 23 with the following:

Act if the individual who accumulated the violation qualified for benefits in each of those two initial claims, taking into account subsection 7.1(1) or (2), subparagraph (1)(d)(ii) or regulations made under Part VIII, as the case may be.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

On amendment G-4, would you like to read that into the record, Mr. Komarnicki?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It is:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by

(a) replacing line 24 on page 23 with the following:

152.08(1) The qualifying period of a self-

(b) adding after line 27 on page 23 the following:

(2) A self-employed person's self-employed earnings during a qualifying period may not be taken into account in respect of more than one initial claim for benefits.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

On amendment G-5, would you like to read that into the record?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It is:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by replacing line 20 on page 38 with the following:

rate per year prescribed by regulation made under

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

All those in favour of amendment G-5?

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Could the parliamentary secretary explain this one to me?

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

Louis, could you explain that one, please?

[Louis Beauséjour]

The idea in making that amendment is to ensure that the Minister of National Revenue will be able to use the existing interest rate as determined by the current regulations.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I will get you to read amendment G-6 into the record, Mr. Komarnicki.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It is:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by replacing line 31 on page 38 with the following:

interest on the amount, at a rate per year prescribed

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I will get you to read amendment G-7 into the record.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It is:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by replacing line 3 on page 40 with following:

make regulations, prescribing a rate for the purposes

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I will get you to read amendment G-8 into the record, Mr. Komarnicki.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It is:

That Bill C-56, in clause 16, be amended by adding after line 39 on page 42 the following:

Delegation

152.311 The Minister of National Revenue may authorize an officer or class of officers to exercise powers or perform duties of that Minister under this Part.

(Amendment agreed to)