Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to introduce the first and last amendments to this bill that's quite a few pages long.
The proposed enabling legislation gives the Governor in Council the power to make regulations. This amendment is intended to give it one more regulatory power. The intent is to add a paragraph so that the Governor in Council can provide for the “cases where labour and material payment bonds and performance bonds are to be provided". This proposal comes directly from a witness from the Surety Association of Canada. He wanted to ensure that the regulatory powers granted by the legislation included a power for payment bonds.
This would give contractors in the contract execution chain the certainty of being paid. This would provide a mechanism to protect subcontractors as much as possible. They often find themselves picking up the tab if the contractors become bankrupt or insolvent. This would establish with certainty that the Governor in Council has the authority to make regulations for that.
I hope to have the support of my colleagues around the table. It is a very reasonable amendment, which was proposed in this exact form by a very knowledgeable witness. This deserves our attention today.
