Evidence of meeting #76 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was athletes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
Thank you.
We'll move, for our final question of the day, to Mr. Bittle for two minutes.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to echo my colleagues in thanking you all for being here. This wasn't easy, but you're being heard—I want you to know that.
My questions will be for Mr. Wallbridge.
We've talked a lot about the interplay between provincial and federal jurisdiction; we've talked about things like anti-SLAPP legislation, which is provincial, and you've talked about employment standards legislation.
I know the minister has said that it's not a matter of if there will be an inquiry but how. Is it fundamental that the provinces be at the table for any type of inquiry, so we can address many of the things that have been discussed here today?
12:55 p.m.
Lawyer, As an Individual
If workplace issues are part of that inquiry, then they would absolutely have to be at the table to account for the decisions they made to basically withdraw from protecting employee athletes. Absolutely, there's no question about it.
It's shocking to hear these stories about how long these athletes have sought justice, and the fact that provinces got a phone call from an owner of a team and changed the laws over a weekend, by comparison. They have to be at the table; they have to answer questions about why that happened. If they're unwilling to do anything to protect player athletes, then the minister and the federal government need to have the courage to intervene.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
Chris Bittle Liberal St. Catharines, ON
If I can build on the myth in the CHL of the student athlete exemption, how has that come to be? Is it like what's happened in the United States with the NCAA, where schools are making millions of dollars? We have hockey teams worth tens of millions of dollars here. How does it come that these athletes are exempted from legislative protections?
12:55 p.m.
Lawyer, As an Individual
How has it come to be that they're exempted? That's a good question.
I'm most familiar with Nova Scotia, where over the course of the weekend in July the regulations of the province changed, and the province said the Canadian Hockey League, or some owners of teams, called them and asked them to do it. As it's reported, neither the league nor one single team was on the registry of lobbyists, so how did those conversations take place? I don't know the answer, but it certainly is suspicious, and one plus one often equals two.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Kevin Waugh
Thanks very much, Chris.
Thank you, David and Rachael, who are both on the video conference today.
Thank you to our guests appearing in person.
Thanks to our analyst, Gabrielle, who is back.
Mike, thank you very much.
I need someone to say—
