Bill C-58

An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012

This enactment amends the Canada Labour Code to, among other things,
(a) amend the scope of the prohibition relating to replacement workers by removing the requirement of demonstrating a purpose of undermining a trade union’s representational capacity, by adding persons whose services must not be used during legal strikes and lockouts and by providing certain exceptions;
(b) prohibit employers from using, during a legal strike or lockout intended to involve the cessation of work by all employees in a bargaining unit, the services of an employee in that unit, subject to certain exceptions;
(c) make the contravention by employers of either of those prohibitions an offence punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 per day;
(d) authorize the Governor in Council to make regulations establishing an administrative monetary penalties scheme for the purpose of promoting compliance with those prohibitions; and
(e) amend the maintenance of activities process in order to, among other things, encourage employers and trade unions to reach an earlier agreement respecting activities to be maintained in the event of a legal strike or lockout, encourage faster decision making by the Canada Industrial Relations Board when parties are unable to agree and reduce the need for the Minister of Labour to make referrals to the Board.

Canada Labour Code

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, I have heard a lot from the illiterate Liberal economic policy on the other side with regard to this and other things.

One thing I find fascinating is that the Liberals take one position but do something else. While they have expressed themselves about the bill, they are allowing foreign replacement workers at the Stellantis plant in Windsor. They are so afraid to prove how they have protected Canadian jobs that they will not release their contracts and prove us wrong. They clearly have not protected these jobs, since we have foreign replacement workers. I have read their contracts.

What is the member's view on foreign replacement workers in relation to the bill?

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely, this is a concern. I outlined in some of my intervention here how we brought this up at committee. Unfortunately, the minister was very vague. The information the government had initially given on this was that it is a very small handful of people. We found out that this is factually incorrect.

It is very concerning. If the government does not have anything to hide, then it should absolutely disclose what the arrangements are.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that, many times, I hear Conservatives bring up criticisms of anti-scab legislation. They say it will extend, delay and make labour disputes last longer and longer; in fact, it is those labour disputes where replacement workers have been brought in that become dangerous, vicious and very long, and they tear communities apart. I think of the Giant mine in Yellowknife, where nine people were killed by people who were frustrated about being replaced without any choice.

Could the member comment on the fact that anti-scab legislation is actually good for bringing people together, for giving workers their right to remove their labour when they feel that they need to put pressure on management to get fair wages and good working conditions? That is the only power they have.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I can speak to the legislation that is before us today, Bill C-58. We have had healthy debate in the House of Commons over the legislation. We had a lot of testimony at committee, and it went through all the processes there. We had some amendments that made the legislation even better than it was before. I outlined a couple of them in my intervention.

Here we are today with the proposed legislation, which affects federally regulated industries. As I mentioned, we have supported the legislation and have worked toward making it better, in particular with the labour board. As I mentioned in my intervention, it was good to hear from the board and get a lot of our questions answered as to their internal operations. In that way, we could better understand how they deal with the different applications that come forth and what they are going to do moving forward in order to improve their processing times.

[Bonita Zarrillo, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I know that the Conservatives were playing many games at committee to try to prolong the vote on the legislation. Simply, why have the Conservatives not supported this over the years that the NDP has tried to move it forward? I just want to understand this more clearly.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the member sits with me at committee. I am unclear about what she is referencing, because we had committee days that were set to hear from witnesses on this. There were absolutely no delays.

I am really not sure what she is even referencing. We asked witnesses questions. We had clause-by-clause that went very expeditiously. I think the member is trying to create a story that is not there.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Mr. Speaker, I will stay away from the member's comments that clearly demonstrate the Conservatives' opposition to Stellantis, Volkswagen and Honda. I understand they do not support the federal government bringing those companies to Canada.

However, what confuses me is that I am not sure if the member fully understands anti-scab legislation. It means that, for a company that is in existence in Canada, if a strike takes place, the company would not be able to bring in replacement workers.

That is what we are actually talking about when it comes to replacement workers. I just want the member to give confirmation that this is, in fact, also her understanding.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's concern about my being informed. Of course I have read the legislation, and I sit on the committee that dealt with it clause by clause. I am very involved in the legislation.

I clearly gave examples of other ways that workers could be replaced, whether through external contractors and consultants, as I outlined in my intervention, or through foreign replacement workers, a term that was actually used by building trades in their letter to the Prime Minister. There are other ways that replacement workers can affect workers. That is what I was referencing in my intervention.

It is a way of replacing workers, although in the legislation, it is a very specific way of deeming it.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I find it comedic, in some ways, that the bill has been tabled eight times, and the Conservatives are now likely to vote in favour at this final hour. They know New Democrats have forced the vote on this, and they know that it is going to pass.

I find it comedic that the Conservatives are now trying to play it as though they have never seen the bill before. It has been tabled eight times in the House. They failed to vote for it eight times.

What explanation can the member give for why they voted against it so many times?

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, what I find comedic is that the NDP member is not acknowledging that he is actually part of the government. He is in a coalition agreement with the government.

[Blake Desjarlais, NDP, Edmonton Griesbach, AB]

Answer the question.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, he is tripping me up right now. He will not even allow me to actually answer the question.

This is the trend from this particular member. It is unbelievable that the member is in a coalition yet is actually asking that type of question.

As I referenced, we have Bill C-58 in front of us. That is what we are debating here today and what we will be voting on soon. That is what is before us.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Mr. Speaker, the interventions from the NDP-Liberals are interesting. They go about an inch deep on a lot of issues.

Let me provide a little more colour and give the member an opportunity to do this on the particular issue of foreign replacement workers in Stellantis.

Canada's Building Trades Unions have condemned the government for its use of foreign replacement workers for non-proprietary jobs at Stellantis, such as forklift driver jobs. They have over 138 members sitting at home, unemployed, in Windsor, while the government allows Stellantis to bring in over 900 construction workers, most of them in non-proprietary positions.

Could the member comment on why she thinks that the government talks out of one side of its mouth when its members are in the chamber on legislation, but when it is administering the law, it actually does the opposite?

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Speaker, the government has quite a trend of doing great photo ops and making lots of announcements, but the follow-through is really not great. We see that time and time again.

I have the letter that was sent by Canada's Building Trades Unions to the Prime Minister. It is very to the point about their concerns, which have not been eliminated or addressed. The government continues to deflect and be evasive on this issue. It is not being transparent.

As I mentioned, a number of my colleagues at different committees, including at our committee, have tried to get information on the contracts in order to protect workers. If the government really had nothing to hide, why would it not be disclosing these contracts?

The House resumed consideration of the motion that Bill C-58, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Industrial Relations Board Regulations, 2012, be read the third time and passed.