Evidence of meeting #82 for Finance in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was tfsa.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Law Enforcement and Policing Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I think in general I would say that the amendments were fully consistent with the original intent of the Ending the Long-gun Registry Act.
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Law Enforcement and Policing Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
I do.
Conservative
Caroline Fobes Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
Yes, just to reiterate, the legislation is sometimes made retroactive to prevent people with advance notice of it from avoiding it. It's intended, in fact. As Mr. Potter said, in this case the intended effect was to abolish the long-gun registry. So in this case, that's why the legislation is retroactive. Parliament does have the authority....
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I want to go back to this notion of good faith bargaining with my last question for Mr. Trottier.
Can you understand the union's position that this is a legislative gun held to their head as they go through trying to negotiate with the government? The fact that it's been at the table for more than a year doesn't necessarily suggest that it's been the union that's been holding up the negotiations on this particular issue. If a government in future were to say that it's going to hold up a particular issue because it knows it has an ability to push something through law that it can't negotiate, does that not create an atmosphere in which good faith negotiation is not possible?
Conservative
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Compensation and Labour Relations Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
We have been at the bargaining table for a year or more, and we have been very forthright and forthcoming and wanting to discuss the issue with the bargaining agents. We haven't been all that successful with getting them engaged on the issue, and still we're striving today to get them engaged on this issue. We're going out in all different ways to try to get them to talk to us and provide us with reasonable improvements to the plans we're putting forward for discussion, and we're still hopeful that we're going to be able to get them involved in that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Cullen.
We'll go to Mr. Saxton first, and then Mr. Cannan.
Conservative
Andrew Saxton Conservative North Vancouver, BC
Very quickly, going back to the long-gun registry, Parliament did vote to end the long-gun registry. This particular change is simply to comply with the will of Parliament. Is that correct, Mr. Potter?
Director General, Policing Policy Directorate, Law Enforcement and Policing Branch, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
That is correct.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Reading on the sick leave and disability program and meeting with some of the employees, I'm just trying to clarify: how many employees are we talking about, first of all, who would be affected by this change?
Associate Assistant Deputy Minister, Compensation and Labour Relations Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
By the change? About 180,000 employees.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
About 180,000. You're saying that 60% of them do not have enough banked sick leave, so for 100,000 or so you're looking at trying to make the system more modernized.
What is the cost to sick employees right now who don't have sufficient coverage? If they have to leave on stress leave, or medical leave, what's the present plan in place?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Pensions and Benefits Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Right now, if an employee without a sufficient amount of sick leave for a longer-term illness found themselves ill, they would be out of income. They would be on leave without pay. They would look to apply for EI sickness benefits, which have a lengthy waiting period. If they get the EI sickness benefits, they're at 55% of pay. Longer term, they would look at accessing the long-term disability program, at 70% of pay.
All our new proposal would have, from the depletion of sick leaves...a short-term plan for several weeks at 100% pay and active case management, a third party service provider working with the employee, the employer, and the medical practitioner to determine what the needs are, how long they need to be away, and what the accommodations would be to come back.
That tells us that a lot of people will not be out of income and likely will also not go towards a long-term disability plan, but will get the support they need from the employer.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
You're talking about 120,000 people. There are different types of jobs, from public administration to CBSA—I've met some of them, for example—or law enforcement. It's hard to get one size that fits all.
In the negotiations, is that something you're considering with regard to the job responsibilities and the coverage to fit their needs?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Pensions and Benefits Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Absolutely. In fact, last week we talked to a number of organizations who are at the bargaining table, and we heard about the unique needs of CBSA and correctional services. This is the kind of discussion we are having at the bargaining agent table. Carl leads the negotiations. We're discussing how to accommodate different kinds of jobs, high-stress jobs, sometimes dangerous jobs, and the desk jobs with the different kinds of illness that come up, both physical and mental health.
Conservative
Assistant Deputy Minister, Pensions and Benefits Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
Well, the accumulated sick leave bank regime started in 1923. All of these systems are about 60 to 70 years old, in contrast to provinces which have had short-term disability plans for about 40 years. We're about 40 to 60 years out of date.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
What's the cost to the treasury if we don't modernize the system?
Assistant Deputy Minister, Pensions and Benefits Sector, Treasury Board Secretariat
There is a cost in the budget, but that's a cost of contingent sick leave liability, an estimate that is a subset in the budget of a larger number.
We are not giving costs of a new system yet, because we need to go to procurement. We have not gone to procurement, because we're in collective bargaining and honouring that process first.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
I respect that. I'm wishing you all the best. We want happy, healthy employees. I think it's a win-win for everybody, so good luck.
Thank you.