I think I can accommodate you in much less than 10 minutes, Mr. Chair.
Let me introduce myself in terms of why I'm here and the experience I'm prepared to expose to you, should you want to ask questions.
My career for 42 years has been in labour relations. In 1984 I left a legal practice to join the ranks of the neutrals and became, first, a vice-chair for a year and then then chair of the Alberta Labour Relations Board until 1995. I was there 10 years. I continued as a vice-chair of that board until 2015. I've also served as a vice-chair of the Canada board for three years and, probably of most significance to your deliberations, chaired the 1996 task force to review the Canada Labour Code that resulted in the report, “Seeking a Balance”, which I'm going to make some brief reference to.
That report resulted in fairly significant changes to the Canada Labour Code, enacted in 1998. Those provisions, other than essentially the provisions we are discussing today, have been the framework for Canadian federal labour relations ever since 1998, through to 2016.
I want to speak first about process. When my colleagues and I—my colleagues Rodrigue Blouin from Quebec and Paula Knopf from Toronto—were commissioned to do the task force, we consulted very early with the parties to federal labour relations and on our own experience. We had three board chairs, three experienced arbitrators.
Our view, and the view of virtually everybody we consulted with, was that this was a successful tripartite system. We encouraged the parties to meet together not only to put their briefs forward, but to discuss things at a series of round tables. In a room like this, we had a consensus process that met about 10 times.
Probably the proudest day of my professional career was sitting in a room like this with a federal minister. It had been initiated by Minister Robillard, but it was Minister Gagliano by the time we were done. There were two groups, the representatives of federal employers and the representatives of the Canadian labour movement. They both said to us, and more importantly, to the minister of the day, “We don't agree with everything that is in this report.”
One side disagreed with a couple of things, and the other side disagreed with a couple of things—significantly, one of which was the card system—but both said very clearly and ultimately enthusiastically that it was a package deal, something they could both live with, and a framework that they could buy into and use to administer their labour relations. I believe the bill that came out of that was a successful revision to the Canada code. I think it has worked.
We said in our preamble, if you can pardon me for reading just a bit:
We want legislation that is sound, enactable and lasting. We see the too frequent swinging of the political pendulum as being counter productive to sound labour relations. We looked for reforms that would allow labour and management to adjust and thrive in the increasingly global workplace.
We said further on, at page 40, in describing the criteria for reform, that:
stability is desirable and pendulum-like changes to the Code do not serve the best interests of the parties or the public; consensus between the parties is the best basis for advocating legislative change; recommendations should be enactable, long-lasting and premised upon the overriding concept of voluntarism.
I won't go on and read more, but we went on at some length, first, about what we thought was the reason we were successful in getting consensus, and second, the importance that consensus plays in a labour relations system. I have not changed my views on that.
I have now been involved in administering labour boards, arbitration, and mediation in the federal and provincial industries. I've done a number of legislative reviews. I still believe firmly, even passionately, that political interventions that are seen as deliberately tipping the pendulum are corrosive of labour relations. They prompt the other side to go away from the bargaining table and common interests, and to pursue political solutions to gain an advantage. That is disruptive of our labour relations system, which ultimately requires both sides to face economic realities head-on and not use legislative advantages to try to defeat the other.
It's a fairly strong expression of views, but it is not simply my personal experience. It is founded on the last 30-year—and I think the most significant 30 years—review of the Canada code, and the people whose laws will be affected.
In my view, the two bills that are repealed by Bill C-4 failed to meet that criteria. They both had the air of one side seeking political intervention for more ideological, economic, or relationship reasons, and they have corroded the view that legislative reform at the federal sector is based on the tripartite model.
I have some specific comments, but I'm not going to go through them. I think I'm going to leave them for questions.
I will say one thing, and I think this is very important given the discussion I heard earlier. I heard several comments about every other country in the world. With our American partners, although their system is unique in many ways—unique is perhaps a euphemism—some of their system trumps ours.