Evidence of meeting #7 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was unions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Dan Ruimy Liberal Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
I want to thank Mr. Sims and Ms. Slinn for their comments. I very much appreciated the comments on the differences between Canada and other countries. They really are comparing apples to oranges, and if that were the case, then I guess this would be called Europe here or they would be called Canada.
Earlier it was suggested that by taking away Bill C-377, there would be zero accountability, absolutely zero. It was suggested by my colleague on the other side. Is that true, Mr. Sims?
5:30 p.m.
As an Individual
I've been at or supervised a fair number of union meetings, and if you don't think they're pretty rambunctious, if you don't think unionized employees are heavily involved in criticizing, challenging their union, that's not my experience.
They're not wee, timorous beasties. Union elections are contested. Expenditures are contested. There are passive union members who don't participate, but there are very active ones. I don't think the appellation “unaccountability” is true.
The difference is this. There's a lot of accountability to the members of the bargaining unit. The real issue, as one of the construction reps earlier said, is the access to the information to the outside world to use for political purposes, to use for economic purposes, for sniping—all that goes on. This is just part of the battle.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Thank you, Mr. Sims.
This wraps up the day, I'm afraid.
I'd like to thank Mr. Sims, Professor Logan, and Professor Slinn, for joining us today. I would like to sincerely thank all of the technicians, my colleagues here, and the interpreters behind us, who do a fantastic job.
Thank you, everybody. We'll see you on Wednesday.