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Natural Resources committee For the record, I get half the pay twice.
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am joined by Jonathan Lundy, Chief Transition Officer for AECL. As noted in the previous session, Canada's nuclear labs have a new name. On 3 November, we proudly launched a wholly-owned subsidiary of AECL called Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, or CNL for
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee The contractor must attract and retain Canada's best. That is the future, and for the contractor to succeed, that's what must be accomplished. The contractor, I expect, will approach this through three lenses collectively. The first is to make sure that there is attractive and in
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee It would be entirely speculative on my part. As the government clarified in the earlier session, it intends to incentivize the contractor to find the solutions that will work best for the labs going forward. In that, it must also respect the collective bargaining process, exist
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee The reality is that when young Canadians are considering career opportunities, they look across many sectors to see where those opportunities exist. We come back to what young Canadians are looking for by way of career employment. What's important to note is that the Canadian Nuc
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee We've been very much following the lead of government as to what it has put forward as the solution. Again, I'd come back to say that as we observe what is being considered as industry practice elsewhere in Canada and around the world, this notion of needing to meet the requirem
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee One can look around the world and see where the trends are going. I recall in the earlier comment that observation was made. My observation is that the private sector approaches this issue of compensation as a whole. It is about salaries. It's about performance pay. It's about
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee This is an interesting and difficult question. I'm not a pension expert, but my understanding is that there are a variety of options, including bridging, that can get from the point of new employees coming in to an ultimate solution with a go-forward pension plan for all, but I'd
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee I'll be a little careful and not speak on behalf of the government, but what I will highlight is that the new opportunities that Candu Energy, the company that took over the assets of our CANDU reactor division, has identified in China are good for Canada, and good for the supply
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee I will confirm that the coverage provided to AECL employees who were transitioned to Candu Energy in the private sector was also three years. This is also about fairness and treating the employees in this part in the same manner in which employees were treated in the first phase
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee This was a large part of the negotiation. I was not part of that negotiation, so I'm observing it from a bit of a distance. My understanding is that all unionized employees went across, unless there were cases of people wanting to depart the company. Candu Energy is of course in
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee I would confirm that in the first agreement, the notice of transitional coverage was only provided to employees literally a few weeks before the actual transaction occurred. We're receiving that notice approximately a year before it would occur. That is much earlier in the proces
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee Just for clarity, you're talking about the employees who moved in to Candu Energy?
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee Perhaps the issue here is whether the contractor will have the tools and ability to address this issue, which is one of how we put in place appropriate pension arrangements for incoming employees and not ultimately create two pension systems. The question at the heart is does tha
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker
Natural Resources committee Thank you. That's a very profound question. First, national nuclear laboratories around the world do not work for profit and these are their customers. The fundamental change that the GOCO model implements is first and foremost it creates a customer-supplier relationship with it
November 18th, 2014Committee meeting
Dr. Robert Walker