Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise in this House today, October 25, 1994, a year after the election. I would like to thank the people of Trois-Rivières for having placed their confidence in me and I hope that I have been worthy of it. I can assure my constituents that I will do everything in my power to keep their trust.
I would also like to briefly thank my organizers at the time, 800 party workers who, on October 25, 1993, worked for my election under the capable leadership, I would like to point out, of Diane Talbot to whom I paid tribute this morning.
I am pleased to take part in this debate on Bill C-237, An Act to amend the Bankruptcy Act (priority of claims). The bill's explanatory note reads as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to change the priority of payment of claims in case of the bankruptcy of an employer, in order that the wages, salaries and pension plan contributions of an employee, up to a limit of nine thousand dollars, be paid in priority to any other class of claims.
At this stage, I wish to commend my colleague, the member for Portneuf, for his determination, insight and courage in presenting this very socially-oriented bill, it must be said. Some societal choices are implicit in such a bill, in such a way of looking at things.
This issue was discussed in Parliament for the first time in 1919. However, even though most of the discussion on this idea of priority or super priority of wage claims has occurred over the last 20 years, the bank lobby always seems to win out, at the last minute. That is obvious in all the documents one can read on the issue.
When a bankruptcy occurs, there are secured creditors, preferred creditors, and then common creditors. Workers rank fourth among the preferred creditors.
We have to realize that a bankruptcy means something painful and sad which someone has to pay for. Since we can identify at first glance four types of major players that are always there: the government, the suppliers, the lenders and the workers-there are always four types of players-we must ask ourselves who is in the best position to assume the loss. Who is the most vulnerable? We could quickly analyse this.
Is it the government that has the most to lose? If it assumes some losses, despite the disastrous budgetary situation that it is in right now, this will always represent, in terms of revenue, of shortfall, a drop in the ocean. If ever the situation that is advocated became as dramatic as that in terms of lost revenue, the government could always change the act, since it has this legislative authority as well as being a player in the debate.
There are the suppliers who can pay, and they are increasingly better protected by the new Bankruptcy Act that was changed last year. If they sustain losses, they can file them as bad claims which will reduce their income tax accordingly.
There are lending institutions, particularly banks, for which these are bad claims, first on the accounting level. They could see here a means of improving their social responsibility, of improving their follow-up advice on the case, and perhaps a means of better disciplining themselves, knowing that they will now have something to lose if they pull the plug, as was mentioned earlier.
Finally, there are the employees, who have no leeway whatsoever to make up for the loss that they fall prey to in the case of a bankruptcy when we decide, under the present act, that they will have to pay. They have no way out.
I will put forward a principle that has not been proposed yet, the principle of the most vulnerable. Who is the most vulnerable? A quick analysis shows that in a case of bankruptcy, it is obviously the workers, who foot the bill, and not only directly, since they will not receive any salary and wages and they will have incurred expenses during that period. I am talking about expenses in terms of transportation, meals, clothing and even housing in some cases. And then they find out one, two, three or four weeks later that they will not get any wages, they will not be able to provide a decent living for their family for that period. Moreover, they will have spent money to go to work for an employer who is not able to pay them, which is contrary to the intent of our legislation where a service is provided for a salary.
They say that from now on, banks would be very reluctant to loan money. I take this opportunity to invite people to read the report the industry committee has just tabled. It mentions that the Small Businesses Loans Act will be broadened to include exporting businesses. The Bloc Quebecois made a special recommendation to the effect that the Small Businesses Loans Act should apply to all businesses with respect to loans and working capital. If our recommendation were to be accepted, it would make banks feel more secure when things go sour, since the loans would be guaranteed by the government, which would lessen their losses.
I take this opportunity to say that this is an excellent piece of legislation and that, contrary to those who would like to narrow its scope, I, for one, claim that if we were to review this act which guarantees bank loans, we should make a cost-benefit analysis, taking into account the jobs it creates, the taxes it generates, and the savings in unemployment insurance and welfare it represents.
Once again, I congratulate my colleague. Mr. Speaker, I am quite sure that you would like to know that the sovereign Quebec of tomorrow will be a little bit like this. It will respect individuals who are the driving force of any activity, be it economic or otherwise.