Madam Speaker, today we have an opportunity to speak to Bill C-64 respecting employment equity. Madam Speaker, I shall, if I may, quote the purpose of this legislation as it appears in the text of the bill.
The purpose of this Act is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability.
The bill consists of four parts. First, it sets out the obligations of an employer and outlines reporting requirements. Part II sets out mechanisms for enforcing employer obligations. Part III deals with the assessment of monetary penalties, and Part IV establishes regulation-making authority and provides for other general matters.
The House will recall that the federal government's first affirmative action programs were set up in 1970, following the report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada. However, the report of the Commission on Equality in Employment-the Abella Commission's report tabled in 1984-was to form the basis for current policies on employment equity.
Adopted in 1986, the Employment Equity Act currently applies to federally regulated employers and Crown corporations that employ 100 or more employees. These are mainly employers that conduct their operations in the banking, transportation and communications sectors which, as you know, are under federal jurisdiction.
Bill C-64 will completely change the 1986 legislation, by making it apply to the federal public service, which was not covered before. Considerations to be included in employment equity plans are now better defined. The President of the Treasury Board is to table an annual report. Finally, the Canadian Human Rights Commission will be responsible for the enforcement of the obligations imposed on employers by certain sections.
Of course, this is nothing new.
You will recall that, in a report tabled on May 14 1992, a special committee recommended that the threshold under which the legislation does not apply be lowered from 100 to 75 employees.
The same report recommended as even more important yet that a national employment equity strategy be developed, a strategy that would include a public education program. And this program, in the opinion of the committee and his chairman, was the most important part of all.
This report was accompanied by a minority report from the Liberal Party, presented by the hon. members for York South-Weston and Halifax. This minority report states that: "Maintaining the current threshold of 100 employees, or even reducing the threshold to 75 as recommended by the Special committee, results in legislation that, in effect, imposes a barrier to designated groups members who prefer to be employed in small business settings". As you can see, the minority report even goes further than the special committee report.
Let me quote again from this minority report, where the hon. member for York South-Weston and the hon. member for Halifax tell us the following: "It is our belief that the Federal Contractors Program presents the government with an ideal opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to the principle of employment equity. The message should be clear and unequivocal-if you want to do business with the federal government, you must implement employment equity in the work place".
These two examples go to show that in those days-this was 1992-employment equity was taken seriously. In fact, this special committee report and minority report have laid the groundwork, I imagine, for the bill before us today.
In this context, the Bloc Quebecois believes it is essential to ensure equitable job access to the groups affected by the legislation. We therefore endorse the principle of employment equity. The Bloc certainly supports the inclusion of the public service of Canada within the scope of the act. This was long overdue.
However, the Bloc Quebecois questions the helpfulness of a new governmental measure. As I said earlier, the special committee recommended that adequate resources be provided to the Human Rights Commission, so that it could carry out effectively its new functions. Unfortunately, the Minister of Human Resources Development has stated in a press conference that the commission would have to do more with less. This leaves us somewhat sceptical or at least concerned.
Another difficulty we would like to point out is that employment equity policies should have been adopted a long time ago. They were not. However, the federal government is now in a situation where it must reduce its workforce, which makes it much more difficult to reach equity goals and will limit the impact of this bill to a certain extent.
A bill is a statement of good intentions. However, given the current downsizing of the federal public service, it would be not only desirable but essential for the minister to propose a plan to implement this bill within the public service.
We also remember-as I read a few moments ago in its report-that the special committee had recommended a reduction to 75 employees, while the minority report suggested an even greater reduction. The bill, however, does not provide for such a reduction, even though we think it should.
In conclusion, although the Bloc Quebecois supports the principle of employment equity, we will introduce major amendments in committee in order to help improve the effectiveness of this bill.