Human Resources Committee on Feb. 15th, 2007

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I think I have the floor right now, right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

You have the floor right now, Mr. Lake. We've heard the motion, so just read it and we can vote on it.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

Okay.

I'm going to move a motion. And I guess I do have to read it? I can't just refer to it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We've got to hear the whole painful thing over again.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I'm moving this motion:

ln accordance with its Order of Reference of Wednesday, October 25, 2006, your Committee has considered Bill C-257, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers) and agreed to report the following:

Bill C-257 fails to provide balance to both sides in the collective bargaining process and fails to address other issues reflected in the evidence presented by witnesses, accordingly, your Committee recommends, pursuant to Standing Order 97.1, that the House of Commons not proceed further with Bill C-257, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

I just want to add at the end a reiteration of what I've said the other times I've talked about this, that there would be a second motion that we would have been willing to put forward. I'm not putting forward the motion:

That the committee recommend to the Minister of Labour to establish a consultative process to conduct an examination of the concerns raised by witnesses and the subject matter of Bill C-257, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (replacement workers).

That would be the end of the second motion that I would be willing to put forward if the first one passes. I've made my arguments for this motion several times already and I'm not going to bother doing them again.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

The committee appreciates that.

Mr. Silva, followed by Mr. Lessard.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Chair, we are dealing right now with clause-by-clause for the bill. You can't just bring some other motion dealing with some other matter. Right now, we're still dealing with the clause-by-clause. We've just finished clause 2. We now have to go to clause 3. Then we have to figure out whether this motion, which is totally outside of what we're dealing with with the clause-by-clause, is in order or not. But at the moment, we're only dealing with the bill and clause-by-clause. So we should continue as we've been proceeding thus far.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

My suggestion would be that we limit debate on this, we vote on it and we move on with the bill.

[Ruby Dhalla, Liberal, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

I think we should call the question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I can't call the question as long as people want to keep debating.

Mr. Lessard has a comment. If there are no more speakers, we can call the question when Mr. Lessard is done.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Mr. Chair, I contend that this is inadmissible because it's contrary to what we agreed upon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you. It's not out of order.

I will call the question now, and we've got a recorded vote.

(Motion negatived: nays 7; yeas 4)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

The motion is defeated, which means the next one won't be showing up.

(On clause 3)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We're now going to go back to clause 3, and the Liberal motion on page 9.

Are you moving that, sir? Would you read it into the record, please?

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

I move that Bill C-257, in clause 3, be amended by replacing lines 38 to 40 on page 3 with the following:

offence and liable, on summary conviction, for each day or part of a day that the offence continues, to a fine not exceeding

(a) in the case of a corporation, a trade union or an association, fifty thousand dollars; or

(b) in the case of any other person, one thousand dollars.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Is there any discussion on this? No?

We're starting to move fast. You can tell it's getting to the end of the day.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Clause 3 as amended agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We're into the home stretch, ladies and gentlemen.

Shall the title carry?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Shall the bill as amended carry?

[An hon. member]

I'd like a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

(Bill C-257 as amended agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Shall I report the bill as amended to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Shall the committee order a reprint of the bill? It would be a good idea.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.