Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I certainly understand the importance of unions. I was going through some of the transcripts from the hearings, and I think Lana Payne said, “No country has achieved shared progress and prosperity for working people without strong unions and strong collective bargaining laws.” I assume you all agree with that. I wanted to let you know I agree with that.
I'm going to share a personal anecdote. My son works in construction and is a proud member of his local union. He worked in private sector construction for a while and was well treated, but there was no comparison to how he has been treated since he has been in a union. The pay is better and the safety is better. He is going to go to trade school and that will be paid for. The benefits are enormous. I understand the incredible value that workers get when they join a union. It has made a distinct improvement in his life.
I want to quickly talk about some aspects of the bill.
The first thing I want to ask about is clause 11, which adds new subsection 99.01(1). It talks about a complaint made to the CIRB for an employer's non-compliance, but it says the board must issue an order, if applicable, “within the time limit prescribed by the regulations or...as soon as feasible” if there's no time limit prescribed. That seems a little vague to me.
What do you think that time limit should be, or is there a current time limit? If so, do you think that time limit is acceptable?