Bill C-501 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (termination and severance pay)

This enactment amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to ensure that the claim of a clerk, servant, travelling salesperson, labourer or worker who is owed termination and severance pay by a person is secured as of the date of the bankruptcy or receivership by security on the person's current assets.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know everyone's going to run out and get a look at Bill C-501 to see what I tabled yesterday. I'll give you the summary quickly here.

This enactment amends the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act to ensure that unfunded pension plan liabilities are accorded the status of secure debts in the event of bankruptcy proceedings. The enactment also amends the Canada Business Corporations Act to provide an efficacious procedure by which former employees of a bankrupt corporation who were owed amounts by the corporation can proceed with claims against its directors.

That's the summary of Bill C-501. I hope everyone has a look.

Ms. Urquhart, I thank you for talking about the cost, and the cost of not acting, which you talked about earlier. This bill that I have brought forward is a reworked bill from Wayne Marston, Hamilton East--Stoney Creek, and I think it's going to be acceptable to all parties once they have a look at it. One of the reasons I brought it forward is that tens of thousands of forestry workers in my riding in northern Ontario and tens of thousands more forestry workers right across this country, as well as manufacturing workers, did not receive any severance and did not receive any of their pension or their deferred wages. That is going to be a question in a second. What is happening now is that employment insurance is running out for many of those people, and they'll soon be on the welfare rolls, so if you want to talk about the cost of not acting, that's one of the costs.

I have a question for Mr. St-Michel. One of the things you said earlier--and this is my translation, so I hope it's right--is that the employer told you that a pension is a part of your salary that we don't give you right away. I call that “deferred wages”; I think you called it “forgone wages”. I wonder if you'd like to make a few more comments on that in the small time we have left.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you very much, Chair.

I'd first like to emphasize the words of Mr. Mulcair that things can happen quickly in government. If you think back to before Christmas, it only took the government four days to pass harmonized sales tax right through the House of Commons and through the Senate for Ontario and British Columbia. Imagine, it took four days.

Things can happen quickly, and things do have to happen quickly, because every weekend when I go back to my riding I talk to seniors who can't pay their electricity bills now. I'm sure you know people also who cannot pay their electricity bills or their heating bills, or whatever the case may be. We do need to act very quickly.

Let me just tell you quickly about Bill C-501, which I introduced into the House yesterday, and I do thank the Liberals for indicating their support for this bill. Essentially what this bill does is it moves pensions from unsecured to secured, and that's what I've been hearing today. It doesn't move it to the top of secured. It moves it into the secured area and into the preferred secured area.

I hope that is the first step in a number of changes that are going to be made over the years, and I certainly hope the Conservatives and the Bloc will also be supporting this. I will be working very hard to make that happen.

One of the things that is very clear that statistics and science tell us—this is really for Ms. Comeau and Ms. Blanchard—is that the best indicator for seniors' longevity is how many friends they have. Related to that is the less money you have, the fewer friends you have. So this is directly related to a health outcome and longevity.

I wonder if both of you, in the last minute or so that we have left here, would have any comments on what science tells us.

Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-501, An Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and other Acts (pension protection).

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to introduce an act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and other acts, on behalf of the active and retired forestry and manufacturing workers in the riding of Thunder Bay--Rainy River and Northern Ontario, and indeed other active and retired workers around the country who fear for the security of their hard-earned retirement income.

This legislation is long overdue and respects the right of hard-working Canadians to the pensions they have earned throughout their working lives. I would also like to thank the hon. member for Hamilton East—Stoney Creek for his strong leadership on this issue and his ongoing involvement in the promotion of this bill.

This bill should ensure that underfunded pension plans receive a greater share of the assets of bankrupt or restructuring companies. It would do so by moving pensions up the priority list in the bankruptcy and restructuring process, which requires no spending of revenue whatsoever by the federal government.

With this bill, it is clear that New Democrats stand once again with workers and their families. I hope that all members of this place will recognize the importance of this balanced bill and offer it their full support.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)