Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Cumberland-Colchester.
It is my pleasure to speak to Bill C-31, the budget implementation bill. We recognize the impact worldwide developments have had on every Canadian over the last decade.
Globalization, financial pressures, new technologies and other factors have put real stress on Canadians. Canadians have already stated in many ways that they want a strong, dynamic government which will meet the challenge of these sweeping changes. In other words, it is time government gets it right, providing the necessary services and programs in the most effective and efficient manner possible at the most affordable cost.
The government has committed itself to four key priorities: to redefine the government's roles and responsibilities, to redirect resources to the highest national priorities, to provide Canadians with more modern and accessible quality delivery, and to achieve affordable government.
The government undertook a review of all its major federal programs and services and reassessed what the government does and how it can do it better within the available resources.
The results of this exercise are integral to the major shifts the government has undertaken in conducting its business, not just in direct service delivery to Canadians but in the internal processes and systems that support the delivery of these services.
The expenditure management system is one major initiative that all departments have implemented in the last year. This means that each department is operating in a businesslike manner and is assessing competing priorities and reallocating resources to where they are most required. Outputs are transparent, measurable and precise.
Departments are also ensuring they have stronger, more flexible administrative structures to deliver the government's programs and services to Canadians in a fiscally responsible manner.
The changes the president of the treasury board has proposed in the budget implementation bill are intended to put in place the foundation that will support the government's priorities. Allow me to go through some of the directions the government is undertaking in the bill to get government right and to respond to the needs of all Canadians.
The government has mapped out three key priorities in serving national needs: alternative service delivery, compensation and collective bargaining, and pension reform.
To provide alternative ways of delivering services to Canadians, we will introduce service entities, special operating agencies and other organizational mechanisms to support the delivery of client focused quality services. Nav Canada, for example, has been created to make it easier to deliver air traffic control services.
Similar steps will be taken for food inspection services, national parks, revenue collection and in other areas as the need arises to meet the best interests of Canadians in the most affordable manner. The government will undertake other such alternatives on a case by case basis.
The legislative amendments introduced in the budget implementation bill will now permit the government to put into place the administrative mechanisms necessary to ensure a smooth transition to alternative service delivery.
For instance, changes are proposed to the Canada Labour Code as well as the Public Service Staff Relations Act to permit the introduction of successor rights. This means unions will continue to represent their employees and collective agreements will continue to be enforced until the term of the agreement expires as affected employees move from public service employment to other employers within the federal jurisdiction.
We are also implementing amendments to ensure transitional organizations have the tools they need to operate efficiently, effectively and affordably. For example, we will amend the Financial Administration Act to allow multi-year appropriations where organizations require the flexibility to plan their operations for service delivery over more than a one year period.
However, this is an enabling clause only and Parliament retains the right to approve when and if multi-year appropriations are the best business approaches to meet the specific organizational needs.
These are the directions the government is taking to support the evolution in how it does business for the next century.
Alternative service delivery will affect public service employees currently working in these areas. As a fair and equitable employer, the government believes it must treat these employees in a fair and equitable manner. To this end, the government has embarked on a series of negotiations with bargaining agents to ensure the transitional period is as smooth as possible for employees.
Agreement was reached with most public service unions on the transfer agreements that will apply to employees affected by the creation of alternative service delivery organizations.
The amendments will also allow us to put in place fair arrangements for all employees affected by such transfers. They will permit us to implement enhanced arrangements that some unions successfully negotiated on behalf of their members. The government is committed to working with the public service unions and believes that a negotiated agreement is always the preferred option.
The second key priority area concerns compensation and collective bargaining in the public service. All collective bargaining in the public service came to a halt when the government implemented the Public Sector Compensation Act in 1991. I am certain the nation supported this radical but necessary change.
However, six years have passed since this legislation came into effect. For five of these six years, the public service employees have received no increase in their salaries, a most significant contribution by them to Canadians in achieving the government's objective of fiscal restraint.
However, a more fiscally responsible government does not mean an unfair government to its employees. We all recognize that while the government can be a catalyst for change, it is our employees who are the agents of such change. To this end I am pleased to announce that the Public Sector Compensation Act will expire as originally scheduled in February, 1997. We will be able to return to collective bargaining at that time.
The government is amending the Public Sector Compensation Act to reinstate performance pay and annual increments to those employees for whom they were suspended when the government introduced the wage freeze.
In negotiating the terms and conditions of employment for employees with unions over the next three years we will suspend binding arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism. We cannot risk awards being made by independent arbitrators who are not accountable to Parliament for the government's fiscal responsibility to Canadians.
Binding arbitration will continue for employees of the House of Commons, the Senate, the Library of Parliament and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Their respective legislation prohibits strikes and requires the use of binding arbitration. However, in these cases the arbitrators will be required to take into account the wage settlements that have been reached for comparable occupational groups within the public service for which the Treasury Board is the employer.
The bill would also provide authority for a 2.2 per cent wage increase for non-commissioned members of the Canadian Armed Forces. This measure will correct the disparity in wages that existed before the wage freeze between members of the armed forces and public service employees.
The final priority of legislative amendments centres around pension reforms which provide individual and group employees with greater portability and meet the standards of the Pension Benefits Standards Act. In this area the government will revise the Public Service Superannuation Act to allow for employee pensions to be protected and to be portable to other organizations. This will be the case whether the individual or group is transferred to a separate organization. Portability will be enhanced by a two-year vesting and lock-in provisions.
I will tell the House about a number of other government priorities. The government will take measures to re-engineer its many organizations to deliver more quality service while being fiscally responsible to the people of Canada.
We will modify the Financial Administration Act to make changes with respect to group insurance plans in the public service, for example, the health care plan. This will permit the government to fund and manage the group insurance plan for employees. It will also be more consistent with general insurance practices in the private sector.
I will mention a few of the many public service undertakings. The changes we are proposing, particularly in the areas of alternative service delivery, compensation and collective bargaining and pension reform will set the foundation for providing more value and quality in service delivery to Canadians. As the President of the Treasury Board said on April 24 in his introduction to this bill: "These measures will help us secure a financial future, get government right-