Madam Speaker, I welcome this opportunity to speak in the House today and to show my colleagues and all Canadians that we can trust the government to keep its promises.
The red book mentions a future when all citizens, irrespective of race, gender or physical or intellectual capacity, will enjoy an equal standard of living and quality of life.
The bill before the House today will help ensure this will happen. In fact, we will reinforce the Employment Equity Act so that it also covers the public service and federal commissions and agencies. The Canadian Human Rights Commission will be given the power to conduct audits and enforce this legislation. Employers who do business with the federal government will be required to comply with the principle of the Act. By reinforcing the Employment Equity Act, the government is acting to promote its concept of Canada according to which all citizens must have an equal opportunity to share in Canada's prosperity.
The existing Employment Equity Act has been instrumental in making Canadians aware of the need to identify and eliminate barriers to the employment of designated groups.
For all the many milestones that have been achieved since its inception, however, there are still millions of Canadians who have yet to enjoy its benefits. Women, visible minorities, aboriginal people and persons with disabilities continue to face enormous barriers to employment which prevent them from achieving their full potential.
As my colleagues pointed out earlier, a substantial number of companies covered by the act fail to satisfy the legislation's mandate, 171 of 348 firms. Almost half of the companies reporting last year did not have women, persons with disabilities, aboriginal peoples or visible minorities represented in their workforce.
Too much of Canadian history has been blemished through such inequality among Canadians. It is time to write a new chapter in the evolution of employment equity.
In rewriting the law we are renewing our faith in the fundamental values that shape Canadian society, fairness, decency and justice for all. By renewing the legislation we will clarify employer obligations and strengthen employee opportunities. We are determined to strike a better balance that works to the advantage of all Canadians.
For the first time in Canada, public and private sector employers will be on an equal footing. The Public Service will be subject to the same rules as the private sector. All employers will be required to reflect the diversity of Canada's population in their labour force. We will extend the scope of the legislation to include the Canadian Armed Forces, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
The legislation will also apply to employers who do business with the federal government, which means that from now on they will have to comply with the principle of the Employment Equity Act. This legislation will also give new responsibilities to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The commission will have the authority to conduct audits in the workplace in order to force employers to comply with the Act.
The commission will also be empowered to take corrective action as needed. In cases of non compliance, the commission may refer the case to an employment equity review tribunal, whose decisions could be mandatory.
To balance the commission's regulatory authority, employers who wish to challenge its decisions will have a chance to plead their case before the tribunal.
The legislation clearly stipulates that tribunal rulings will not cause undue hardship for employers or require them to hire or promote unqualified individuals.
The amendments are also purposely designated not to increase the paper burden to employers. They are meant to act as an impetus, not an impediment to economic growth and job creation.
Enlightened Canadian employers are rapidly discovering for themselves that employment equity is a bonus in the workplace. Diversity is proving to be a competitive advantage in an increasingly complex global economy. Given demographic trends, employers have every reason to want to capitalize on the wealth of untapped talent in the designated groups.
By the year 2000, when Canada will experience a skill shortage caused by an aging population, two-thirds of newcomers to the workforce will be women, visible minorities, aboriginal people and persons with disabilities. Canadian employers cannot afford to overlook this vast labour pool any longer.
All Canadians will benefit as a result of this legislation, because its purpose is to ensure that all Canadians will have equal access to employment opportunities and advancement.
The bill before the House today states that workers are to be hired and promoted on the basis of ability. It provides that ability and merit must be taken into account to ensure employment equity, which can only improve the quality of our labour force.
In fact, employment equity is closely linked to social security reform. Social and economic progress cannot be dissociated from job creation and the integration of disadvantaged persons in the community.
The changes proposed in this bill are necessary, reasonable and fair.
We are convinced that an improved Employment Equity Act will give employers an opportunity to create more efficient and more effective workplaces.
In fact, these improvements will promote tolerance and respect for diversity and encourage a better appreciation of the rich diversity of our communities.
I commend the minister for his decision to send this piece of legislation to committee. I wish to cite some of my own experiences with the public service in Quebec where some legislation has been adopted.
L'Office des ressources humaines was faced with a target of 12 per cent hiring for members of the cultural communities visible minorities. The public service was unable to attain this level. We might ask why it was unable to attain this level, even though it was a promise made by the former Liberal government of that province.
The reason, after years of studies and years of reports, was that there was systemic discrimination. In other words, visible minorities, members of cultural communities, women and the handicapped were barred by a system that did not have the types of measures in it that would allow access to promotions or even to jobs within that system.
Many members opposite said that the merit principle has been forgotten and used words like reverse discrimination. My experience has led me to believe the proposals we are presenting will require that we succeed in removing the deep rooted systemic biases that exist in any system, especially in the public service.
We also need to assure that the Human Rights Commission will have the resources and the authority to ensure compliance with the legislation presented to the House.
Finally, with respect to downsizing, cuts will be made in many areas. I hope the groups we are discussing today will not be unduly hardshipped by the downsizing that is taking place at the moment, because a lot of them were newly arrived to the present system and are on contracts.
Our public service must reflect the reality of Canada. It must be representative of all the components of our society. We are not talking about merit here. Are hon. members on the other side of the House saying there are no qualified individuals in any of these four groups? Are there no women, no visible minorities, no handicapped people, no native people who are qualified for these positions? I doubt that reflects the reality. In fact there are many of them. However there is enough systemic discrimination in the system, enough biases in the system not to allow these qualified individuals to have access to our public service.
I would like the hon. members to take these facts into consideration.