Thank you, Madam Chair, for the invitation to participate in this important discussion.
My name is Rita Coshan, and I am providing remarks on behalf of the council of governors of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission. I currently chair this council, which has representation from supplier, employer, and worker organizations, as well as from the different occupational health and safety jurisdictions across Canada, which largely fall under provincial and territorial mandates. In addition to that role, I also have been working in the field of occupational health and safety for over 23 years as a provincial WHMIS coordinator, as a toxicologist, and currently as the director of health services for the Ministry of Labour Relations and Workplace Safety for the Government of Saskatchewan.
In my role at the council of governors, I would like to make a few remarks with respect to the group of amendments in this bill, but I would primarily like to focus my comments on clause 274, which establishes a legislated external advisory committee to advise the Minister of Health on matters related to the act to replace the current council of governors.
The council of governors recognizes this bill will amalgamate the commission and the national office of WHMIS within a directorate of Health Canada. This has the potential to enhance hazard communication in the workplace and result in more informed and protected workers. The amalgamation of these functions presents many opportunities to share complementary technical, policy, and enforcement expertise and resources for synergistic improvements in service delivery. This is particularly important as we move forward to adopt the global harmonization system into WHMIS in a very timely and time-compressed manner.
The amendment contained in clause 274 replaces the current council of governors with a ministerial advisory council that has the same stakeholder representation as the current council specified in the legislation. It has a broader role than that of the current council in that it is granted legislative authority to advise the minister on all aspects of the act. The effectiveness of the current council of governors' advisory capacity has been exercised in recent times. The amendment to create the legislated advisory council was a recommendation of the council of governors. The council of governors has also recently provided advice to the Minister of Health with respect to products that are excluded from the Hazardous Products Act and thus not subject to HMIRA provisions. We anticipate these recommendations will be addressed in the upcoming amendments to the Hazardous Products Act.
The need for an effective ministerial advisory committee is related to the fact that chemical hazard communication in the workplace falls within the mandates of both labour and health in provincial, territorial and federal legislation. Many of the outcomes of effective WHMIS and confidential business information protection are seen in the workplace. The workers, employers, and the workplace occupational health inspectorate have a very front line view of how well this communication is occurring, and how well the confidential business information is being protected. They have a front line view of whether or not the intended outcomes of informed and protected workers are occurring. It has been my experience that workplace stakeholders primarily raise their concerns and most directly communicate within the occupational safety and health, OSH, framework of labour ministries.
At the same time, the commission and the national office of WHMIS have very much benefited from their association with Health Canada and their access to its expertise and experience with a broad spectrum of hazardous materials and enforcement programs. This overlap into the mandates of two types of ministries and several levels of government means that continuing communication and partnerships are keys to its ongoing success. Key too is the profile of this workplace-based program as a directorate within Health Canada.
Health Canada is a very large and complex ministry with abundant and competing pressures.
I would like to end by saying that all stakeholders will have to continue to work very diligently and cooperatively with Health Canada to ensure that the profile and success of this important program is maintained.
Thank you again, Madam Chair. I'd be happy to answer any questions.