Your second question was whether this would put the severed and terminated employees ahead of employees who continued to work.
In my opinion, yes, that is what this will do. We have the wage earner protection program here in Canada, which pays employees up to roughly $3,100. People who are working but who did not receive their pay for the pre-insolvency period get paid up to $3,100. And in the insolvency proceeding, the government can recoup up to $2,000 through the super-priority for unpaid wages; or if the employee isn't eligible under the wage earner protection program, the employee gets the $2,000.
This bill, as it now stands, will put severance and termination--which are typically much more significant amounts--ahead of the unpaid workers for anything they're owed in excess of the $2,000.