Mr. Lemieux, when I asked what would have made the bill achieve perfection, Mr. Lapierre said that you would actually have liked to see pension plans rank ahead of the banks. They would potentially be second in line. But what about subcontractors?
As my colleague correctly noted, some subcontractors also have employees. Sometimes those employees are unionized, sometimes they are not. When a subcontractor suffers a loss after a company goes bankrupt, it has no protection. The financial losses suffered will probably have repercussions for all employees of the subcontractor in question, whether unionized or not.
In the case of companies like Stelco, where you worked, there are often millions of dollars at stake for subcontractors. Those companies signed huge contracts with subcontractors and there are large sums of money at stake.
Do you think this bill can provide a solution, or is this impossible?