I have, too, on both coasts. It's an issue here in the Port of St. John's for me as well.
To give a bit of background, this was all predicated on Canadian workers deserving more predictable schedules and fair rest and break periods between shifts. We spent three years working with federally regulated industries to put this new hours of work provision in place in the Canada Labour Code to better support Canadian workers.
In 2019, we amended the CLC to create new minimum rest and break periods for employees in, obviously, federally regulated industries. We had a lot of consultations and we had a lot of sector-appropriate amendments, particularly on docks, to allow some flexibility. The new standards are moving ahead.
Each sector is unique. I think the implementation of these changes is a significant undertaking for each one of these workplaces. We continue to work closely with employers to provide support and to monitor the impacts of these changes moving forward. The changes, I think, will ultimately create a better work-life balance and improve health and safety.
We are quite cognizant of the fact that—especially when we're talking about ports, for instance—this does not affect our supply chain nor does it gum up the works. We have to allow for that flexibility. We think that we have found that, but I've dealt with MPs on my side about this as well.
This isn't new to any of these workers, workplaces or employers. This is, like I said, coming down the pipeline. I think I'm the fourth Minister of Labour to be dealing with this.
It's coming into place now. We have to be respectful. We have to make sure it's implemented properly. I've said this at this committee before and I'll say it again: I am not a “government knows best” kind of guy nor am I particularly a one-size-fits-all kind of guy. I grew up in Labrador. I used to think that St. John's, the provincial capital, was the long arm of the law...let alone Ottawa.
We have done our best to make sure that these particular situations are mitigated in their particular workplaces to allow for that flexibility.