Evidence of meeting #39 for Natural Resources in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was workers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Thank you very much, Mr. Cannings and Mr. Schumann.
Mr. Harvey is trying to sneak one last quick question in.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
TJ Harvey Liberal Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
I have one quick little question for you.
I just wanted to give you the opportunity to elaborate on something. Just a few minutes ago, you were talking about skills and training and you had indicated—at least to me it sounded like you were saying this—that skilled trade workers who are non-unionized wouldn't be as qualified to do trades as workers who were unionized. I recognize that it's your responsibility to represent unionized workers, but I just to give you a quick minute to clarify whether that was your intention or not.
10:35 a.m.
Canadian Government Affairs Director, International Union of Operating Engineers
No, because obviously what happens is some of our members who also get training leave the union, and then they're in the non-union sector. So they obviously have the training. I guess it came out the wrong way, in that sense. But our workers are trained. We have training. We're the largest investors in training. So some of those workers out there are former members who have received their training, so yes, non-union workers will be qualified. But there are some companies out there that will bring in non-union workers who do not have the proper training.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Thank you very much, Mr. Schumann. I appreciate your taking the time to be with us today.
Thank you to the committee for your questions.
The meeting is adjourned.