Human Resources Committee on Sept. 24th, 2026

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis. We're debating the bill.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

It was about trade work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

That's why I gave you flexibility, but Mr. Bains is here promoting his bill.

Ms. Desrochers, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. Bains, for your leadership in bringing this bill to the House.

I think it's a very important project. As parliamentary secretary for housing and infrastructure, I think it's very timely. We know that we are looking to double the rate of construction in the housing sector over the next 10 years. To do that, we'll need to have all the available skilled trades workers we can. This is why we launched the team Canada strong fund, as you pointed out in your earlier comments, to train 100,000 skilled trades workers across Canada over the coming years. It's also why we introduced the One Canadian Economy Act—to reduce trade barriers—and labour mobility is definitely a part of that.

I think this bill is a call to action to mobilize all of us across the aisle and across party lines so that we can facilitate opportunities for trades workers. We can make sure that trades workers can go where the job opportunities are. That's why I'd like to spend maybe a little bit of time talking about what a worker actually faces today when they're trying to go and work in a different province. How long does that take? How much does that cost? Can you talk about that a little bit, please?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

I want to thank you for your leadership and the work you're doing on team Canada strong, especially on the building side.

We know if we need to build anything with respect to homes, we need 51 different trades to complete just one home. It's important work and, again, this ultimately complements that work.

If we can reflect back on something I mentioned earlier, you may have to go where the work is. When you do that, you face an industry standard in a different jurisdiction that may require you to get more certifications. That is time. That's money. It's up to $5,000 out of your pocket if you need to get some certification in a different jurisdiction. Each different trade has different costs involved with that. That time can be a year to 18 months.

For certain carpenters.... If you look at British Columbia, it has its own building codes. Often, some codes differ even in different jurisdictions within the province. That's the immense level of work that needs to take place.

One of the other colleague's questions was why we can't just go and whip through that and get it done right away. It's because we have to respect each industry and its standards. I could even go back to how, in the 1990s in British Columbia, we had a leaky condo issue. There was a mass need to build more homes very quickly, and those standards weren't there, and then 10 years later, it was a major problem within the province.

Those are mistakes that we can't make when we're trying to rapidly do things and build them quickly. We have to ensure that the standards are there.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Would you say this bill is also about bringing efficiencies, not to the construction but to the building industry at large and the skilled trades workers?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

This is not to oversimplify it, but if we're looking at processes when we're trying to do any work, we have to plan, then we prepare and then we follow procedural guidelines, standards and things that are listed, in order for us to complete a project. If we don't do this work in advance, mistakes can be made. This is a goal to get to a more efficient workplace.

[Caroline Desrochers, Liberal, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Would you say that in this uncertain environment we're facing, this is going to make sure that skilled trades workers have every opportunity to pursue work across Canada and not be limited to one province?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Absolutely. Again, it allows for them to not only pursue work.... I'd like to use a different example. I can work....

Maybe I'll add it later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

For the benefit of the committee members, I'm going to conclude with two minutes for each party. There will be two minutes for the official opposition, two minutes for the government and two minutes for Madame Larouche.

Mr. Genuis, I believe you're taking the two minutes.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

Mr. Bains, if the minister came to you today and asked, “Do you want me to implement this framework right now, or do you want me to wait until the bill passes before the framework is implemented?”, what would your answer be?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

My answer would be, “I'd be encouraged if you're already doing this work and it's under way.” These consultations should already be taking place. It's been introduced. The timelines that exist—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

To give a simple answer, you would tell the minister that you'd prefer that the work begins now, before the bill is passed. Is that what you're saying?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Yes, ultimately, because I'd like this bill to pass and I'd like the work to be done.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

The minister can, and you would prefer it if the minister began this work before the bill passes. If the bill passes and a hypothetical future minister doesn't do the work, there are no consequences.

In that context, what does the bill change? What is different after the bill passes?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

“What is different after the bill passes?” I'm a little confused by the way you phrased that question.

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

How does the bill's passing...? What change happens in the real world after the bill passes?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Again, as I mentioned, there's accountability in this bill. Then the—

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

What is that accountability? The bill says that you should follow this process within this timeline, but what is the actual accountability? What happens if that doesn't happen? You said, “Nothing”, so where is the accountability?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

I didn't say nothing happens.

It never looks good to fail to do something—I'm sure you understand that. The accountability piece here is that every jurisdiction is involved and every industry is involved, so those are the consequences. If the work is not being done, the consequences are that people can't move around, and we're back in the same position we're in right now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Genuis.

Mr. Saini, you have two minutes, and then we'll conclude with Madame Larouche.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Bains.

Thank you for the leadership you have taken. We heard a lot from the opposition. Things didn't happen in the last 10 or 15 years, so you took the leadership to make it happen through a private member's bill, and I commend you for that.

Could you tell us what workers actually face when an electrician or a plumber tries to go from one place to another?

[Parm Bains, Liberal, Richmond East—Steveston, BC]

Thank you for the question. I talked a bit about this in previous answers as well.

Specifically, I'll tell you right now that there's going to be a great demand for electricians and plumbers. Part of the reason I've introduced this—and a key piece to it—is respecting the skilled trades.

To answer the question at the beginning, one issue is that they're having to recertify. After already having the skills, doing the work and moving to a different jurisdiction, there's a risk of their having to recertify, taking time and money out of actually doing the work before they get on with whatever project they're assigned to. However, I also want to mention that the key piece to a lot of this is to bring back respect for the skilled trades so that we can encourage the next generation of workers to follow these extremely important jobs and make sure that we get kids enrolled in these programs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Saini.

Ms. Larouche, you have the floor for two minutes.