Finance Committee on May 29th, 2014

Evidence of meeting #39 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site.) The winning word was amendment.

A video is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

Bill C-31, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on February 11, 2014 and other measures

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Brian Ernewein General Director, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance

Ted Cook Senior Legislative Chief, Tax Legislation Division, Tax Policy Branch, Department of Finance

Bernard Butler Director General, Policy Division, Policy, Communications and Commemoration Branch, Department of Veterans Affairs

Suzy McDonald Director General, Workplace Hazardous Materials Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Department of Health

Jason Wood Director, Policy and Program Development, Workplace Hazardous Materials Directorate, Healthy Environments and Consumer Safety Branch, Department of Health

Brian McCauley Assistant Commissioner, Canada Revenue Agency

Denise Frenette Vice-President, Finance and Corporate Services, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Soren Halverson Senior Chief, Corporate Finance and Asset Management, Department of Finance

Wayne Foster Director, Securities Policies, Department of Finance

James Wu Chief, Financial Institutions Analysis, Department of Finance

Donald Roussel Acting Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport

Kash Ram Director General, Road Safety and Motor Vehicle Regulation, Department of Transport

Michel Leclerc Director, Regulatory Affairs Coordination, Department of Transport

Colin Spencer James Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Darlene Carreau Chairperson, Trade-marks Opposition Board, Department of Industry

Paul Halucha

Nathalie Martel Director, Old Age Security Policy, Income Security and Social Development Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Thao Pham Assistant Deputy Minister, Federal Montreal Bridges, Department of Transport

France Pégeot Special Advisor to the Deputy Minister, Department of Justice

Ann Chaplin Senior General Counsel, Department of Justice

Atiq Rahman Director, Operational Policy and Research, Department of Employment and Social Development

9:15 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

Administrative monetary penalties. There are a number of different regimes that the federal government has in place under different pieces of legislation for monetary penalties. Some of those will be a guide to what the amounts will be, but it's difficult to say at this point in time what the specific range will be.

9:15 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Okay. I have one more question on this. If such an administrative penalty were enforced or applied would the publicization of that, making that a publicly known figure, be some sort of a breach of a business's privacy? There's no contract that's associated when an administrative fine is applied. It's not as if the government and the employer are in some sort of legally bound agreement. Would it break any privacy issues that a private employer might have?

9:15 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

The regulations now stipulate that any employer found non-compliant gets published on the list, gets posted publicly.

9:15 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

And the amount?

9:15 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

And the amount, that will be set out at the time when regulations are developed, but it will be the employer's name, the reason they're non-compliant. It would be posted on the Web, similar to the same compliance regime we have now. We'll just build on that.

9:15 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Right, and to build on it. I'm sorry, I may have missed it just in the midst of your answer there, but the amount is also posted publicly online? You said the employer—

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

It could be determined, but it could be.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

It could be. It's a possibility within the regime that you work in right now.

May 29th, 2014 / 9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

Yes.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

I guess my question, then, is that there's nothing restricting you from also making that public when you list an employer's abuse of [Inaudible—Editor].

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

Identifying the type of penalty... Other penalties could involve a ban from the program, for example. You could identify a—

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Those could all be listed.

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

—one, two, three-year ban, for example.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

I understand.

Okay.

9:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative James Rajotte

Thank you.

Monsieur Caron, encore.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC

Can you assure us that the proposed regulatory changes will be published in the Canada Gazette?

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

All regulatory changes get published in the Canada Gazette I guess. I'm not entirely sure I understand the question.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC

We just heard from the other officials, before you, justifying the fact that some regulatory changes won't have to be published in the Gazette. So I just wanted to make sure that these will be.

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

During a normal regulatory process, regulations are published in the Gazette sometimes for pre-publication, sometimes straight to Gazette part II for final publication.

9:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative James Rajotte

Is that a yes?

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

I'm not in a position to offer guarantees.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC

According to the process, that should be the case?

9:20 p.m.

Director, Policy and Program Design, Temporary Foreign Workers, Skills and Employment Branch, Department of Employment and Social Development

Colin Spencer James

Yes.

9:20 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative James Rajotte

Thank you.

All right, so on NDP-18, it's a recorded vote, I assume.

9:20 p.m.

NDP

Guy Caron NDP Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC

Please.