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.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Would you say that one of the major differences in this piece of legislation is that it accounts for recessionary times and doesn't bind the government to a budget that is balanced during those particular economic cycles?
11:10 a.m.
Senior Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
It doesn't specifically outlaw a deficit, but it is meant not to be procyclical. It focuses on the bottom line and the budgetary balance, but in order to avoid any procyclicality in terms of fiscal—
11:10 a.m.
Senior Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
That is cutting spending or raising taxes during a recession.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I'm going to turn to division 7 for a moment.
Ms. Hill, can you remind us of what is put into legislation and not through regulations? What protections are given to interns? Is it part II of the Canada Labour Code?
11:10 a.m.
David Charter Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development
The legislation includes three components. First, it offers all protections under part II of the Canada Labour Code occupational health and safety protections to interns, whether paid or unpaid. In addition, it offers part III labour stand protections to interns, with the exception of those who meet two specific exceptions.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
May I stop you there for a moment, between part II and part III, because in Ms. Hill's testimony, and previously in some of our briefings, you said it was expected through regulations that the part III protections would be brought in. Did I hear you right? Part II is codified in law, and that's what's been brought in. Part III is meant to be done later through regulatory efforts.
11:10 a.m.
Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development
Part II is codified in the law. Part III protections are available to interns who don't meet the two exceptions to be excluded from the application of part III, but for those who are excluded from the application of part III, that is, those who are participating in an internship that's part of an educational program or those who meet six specific criteria, the labour standard protections for those interns will be set through regulations.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
You can understand there have been some concerns raised about this, because part III, for those who don't know the Canada Labour Code, includes things like excessive hours of work and sexual harassment. Why not codify those two protections into law as well? Can you explain the mechanism and why we're not offering that assurance to interns, and particularly their parents and others, that we're going to codify that in law and not wait for a regulatory thing later?
11:15 a.m.
Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development
All the part II protections apply to all interns, so it was done through the legislation. All the part III protections apply to interns who don't meet the two specific circumstances to be excepted. Some of the reasons for applying the labour standard protections, such as sexual harassment and maximum hours of work, through regulations is to provide the opportunity to identify an appropriate set of labour standards that meets the unique circumstances of unpaid interns, and also to provide an opportunity to consult stakeholders, through the regulatory process, to get their input on the appropriate labour standards.
11:15 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you, but my question is quite specific, and I sense you're attempting to get there. The two provisions in part III under the Canada Labour Code are around something as important as preventing interns from being sexually harassed, and from excessive hours of work. Was there not a mechanism to codify that into law as well, to give that the same strength as what happened under part II of the Canada Labour Code?
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
11:15 a.m.
Senior Director, Strategic Policy and Legislative Reform, Department of Employment and Social Development
As he said, interns who do not meet the two criteria to be excepted all receive part III protection under legislation, including maximum hours of work and protection against sexual harassment. The only labour standard protections that would be identified through regulations are those related to unpaid interns who meet either of the two circumstances.
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Cullen.
We'll go to Mr. Cannan, please.
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Ms. Hill, approximately how many people are we talking about who are affected by this amendment to the legislation?
11:15 a.m.
Senior Advisor, Strategic Policy, Department of Employment and Social Development
No official statistics are available on interns in Canada. However, widely circulated stakeholder estimates put the number between 100,000 and 300,000.
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
May 26th, 2015 / 11:15 a.m.
Liberal
Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, everyone.
I would like to start with the federal balanced budget act.
When we legislate, there are often negative effects. Have you provided for the possibility that, in a given year, there might be a deficit of $1 billion, while measures have been taken and the debt continues to decrease? Have you looked at a certain number of elements in that regard? When there is a deficit situation, should we consider it a bad thing and automatically adopt drastic measures? For example, the government might be tempted to sell assets to absolutely balance the budget. What is your opinion on that?
11:15 a.m.
Senior Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
In completing our analysis, we ran through a lot of scenarios, in terms of things that could arise when this legislation is in place. Again, overall we're not implementing anything that's really new here. We're enshrining in law the practice that the government has already been following, so we felt safe in that regard.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC
In short, you are admitting that there should still be some flexibility with the economic situation. It is true that there may be a deficit, due to a recession or some other reason, but there should be some flexibility to look at other economic indicators rather than only at a few years of deficit.
11:15 a.m.
Senior Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
In the past, in order to provide protection to the budgetary balance outside of a recession, for example, the government has made it its practice to include a set-aside for contingency. Including such a set-aside would protect you from more minor fluctuations in the budgetary balance outside of a recession scenario.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Emmanuel Dubourg Liberal Bourassa, QC
Okay.
Should this bill set parameters regarding the number of years that should pass before coming back to a balanced budget? What suggestions do you have?
11:20 a.m.
Senior Chief, Fiscal Policy Division, Economic and Fiscal Policy Branch, Department of Finance
I believe that would depend on the circumstance, and it would be up to the government at that time.