Madam Speaker, on October 19 I questioned the minister of public works regarding some problems over the summer with harassment of a female engineer on the job site outside the Peace Tower.
The ministry of public works subsequent to that harassment rewarded one of the subcontractors with further work, including the whole of the Centre Block. I was wondering why the minister would allow his officials to do that. He replied that "notwithstanding the fact it is beyond the legal ramifications of the Government of Canada in terms of privity of contract, we will ensure this kind of behaviour is not tolerated".
Since that time it has come to my attention that officials at public works have been closing their eyes to this sort of behaviour for some time. In fact, this same company, Colonial Builders, and Mr. Karmash who is the perpetrator on this site, have been active on other sites in previous summers, including the Kingston military college and the Kingston penitentiary. Harassment of another female engineer took place to the point where her supervisor took over because it was virtually impossible to work with the subcontractor on the site. He would simply have nothing to do with a female on his job site.
Public works should have been aware of this pattern of behaviour, yet it has continued to permit the company and this individual to do work of very great importance since that time, including work on the Parliament Buildings.
Public Works officials have not shown much competence or judgment, not only in this matter but in other matters related to it. The minister is aware that the female engineer's crew walked off in sympathy with her plight and were left being owed $165,000 or thereabouts. Public works officials have not acted there either.
In order to receive pay for work completed, the contractor and subcontractor have to fill out statutory declarations. They swear that all work they are billing the government for has been completed and that all payments have been made. The statutory declarations could not have been very accurate on the Peace Tower project because if the declarations were true, the group of workers who were with Ann Raney and who are still owned some $165,000 would have been paid. Yet the statutory declaration stating that all accounts are paid and up to date have been submitted and paid by Public Works Canada.
That they are owed the money is not in dispute. The court has in fact found in their favour and has permitted a lien to be placed against the Peace Tower project. Surely that should tell officials at the department of public works that something is wrong. The minister should be aware and should be making certain that he finds out why his officials are so lax in their duties. Not only does public works appear to support and justify the harassment of women on the worksite, but it appears to be ignoring the basic management and accounting procedures that are its role as well.
I call on the minister to assure us that his department will act honourably and see to it that justice is done in this case. These workers who had the strength of character to do the right thing in resisting the unfairness of the harassment against their female engineer must not be the only Canadians who resist harassment of females on the worksite.
The public and this House expect nothing less than fair treatment and justice from our government departments and from their officials. The minister must act now.