Evidence of meeting #28 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was money.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
All right, I clarified that.
Mr. Savage, you still have the floor.
Liberal
Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
On a point of order, could we go through those, not only the acronyms but who those organizations are that we're talking about for Thursday?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Sure. We have the list right here.
The first one would be the Canadian Labour Congress. The second one would be the FTQ, which stands for the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. The next one would be the Confederation des syndicats nationaux, which is CSN.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
No, that's still the union.
Then we have Centrale des syndicats démocratiques, which is CSD. The last one would be Centrale des syndicats du Québec, which is CSQ.
It was suggested we have four labour unions from Quebec, plus the Canadian Labour Congress, which would be five, then there would be two employee-based groups--the one you have on the list, plus the other one, which would be the Conseil national des chômeurs et chômeuses, or CNC. In addition to that, there would still be the Building and Construction Trades Department, the national organization that has already agreed to be here.
So the proposal now is eight groups. My suggestion is that we could have them all speak for five minutes. We're going for an extra hour and a half--
Conservative
Lynne Yelich Conservative Blackstrap, SK
They're all from Quebec. We don't have them from across Canada.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
I need a little bit of clarification from Mr. Lessard. From what I heard, the way you have it here, FTQ kind of represents all of those groups--
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
What I want to clarify, though, concerns the seven minutes. Are you saying they would still have one seven-minute window, but any of them could share that time, and then be available for questions? Is that what you're saying?
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Or are you asking that they each have seven minutes?
Conservative
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
From what I've heard so far, he was actually asking that they share that time and they can each have a little bit of time within that seven minutes. Is that correct?
Bloc
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
Yes, just like we did this morning, Mr. Chairman. Each of the groups got 10 minutes to make their presentation. That's what we gave the employers this morning, isn't that so?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Not everyone spoke, and each organization had seven minutes. When we talked to the FTQ, they agreed that they would make the presentation on behalf of the other organizations, although we would have them at the table being able to answer.
Bloc
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
I spoke to people from the other unions. They said—and this includes the FTQ representative I spoke with—that they would decide who would speak. It might be the FTQ. I don't see any problem with that. If we give them 10 minutes and there are four of them, the FTQ might be the main spokesgroup, but the others could also intervene if they wish to do so. We don't mind, as long as they don't exceed 10 minutes.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Seven minutes, but yes, within the seven minutes. It's seven minutes normally. That makes some sense.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
I don't have an issue with granting 10 minutes, because there's more than one group. And if they want to intervene within that 10 minutes, I think that would solve a lot of our problem. It would make it easier to get through.
Anyway, Mike, continue.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
The second point I want to make is that it seems quite unbalanced, as it stands right now, without having the CFIB and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives. Is the reason they're not coming simply a matter of timing, that it doesn't work out for them on such short notice right now?
I think it would be important, in terms of getting the balance here, to allow them to come before us at some point in the future. Maybe if it's only two organizations, we could have them perhaps for an hour one day, but I think we do need to hear from both of those organizations. They're pretty prominent organizations that should have a voice in this discussion.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
For both of them, there were conflicts. For one, it was that meeting in Calgary for the whole week. The other one was just unavailable, given the time slot.
By all means, if it's agreeable to the group, we could certainly tack on an hour, just as we've done this week, to hear them make a couple of presentations and have a round. I would suggest that we add it to an existing meeting so we don't lose any of the work that we're looking at. So once again, we'll ask the group if that's something they would be amenable to, and we could move forward on that as well.
I have on the list Mr. Martin, Ms. Yelich, and then Mr. Savage.
Mr. Martin.
