Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to speak today to Bill C-66, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code and the Corporations and Labour Unions Returns Act and to make consequential amendments to other acts. As the minister was saying in his speech, the purpose of this bill is to amend the Canada Labour Code, which has not undergone an in-depth revision in more than 25 years. Therefore, it had to be modernized with a view to the future.
What is unfortunate is that, in the end, the government has come up with an incomplete reform. Certain important issues, which have been around for several years and are still of considerable interest, are not covered by this reform.
Here, in this House, we studied two private members' bills to prohibit the use of replacement workers, and the number of members voting in favour of these bills went up each time. The last time, the number was almost sufficient for the bill to pass. However, in the government bill before us today, there are no concrete measures to prohibit the use of scabs.
It is even somewhat offensive, because instead of saying nothing about that, the bill contains measures that are a bit ridiculous. It says that employers who negotiate will be allowed to use replacement workers, whereas employers who do not negotiate will not be allowed to do so. Everybody knows that, in the world of labour relations, it is very easy to appear to negotiate.
Any employer can pretend that he is negotiating. He can show up every morning at the bargaining table without any progress ever being made. We must not forget that the Canada Labour Code applies to areas such as telecommunications, radio, broadcasting, international and interprovincial transportation, airports, air carriers, ports, long-shoring, grain transportation and banking. We all know the labour relations background of these industries, how they can treat people and the impact of technological change in these areas. It is very clear that, if the government does not change its position, it will be missing a crucial element of this reform, namely to have a bill that prohibits the use of scabs, like the one Quebec has had for 15 years.
Quebec's experience shows that there has been a very obvious improvement in labour relations and that this legislation preventing the hiring of strike breakers is an important contributing factor. The minister, who represents a Quebec riding, should have been more sensitive to the representations made, all the more so as the last strike at Ogilvie Mills in Montreal, which lasted almost two years, was primarily about this issue. He represents a riding almost next door to that company's location. Representations were made to all the present federal ministers with ridings in Quebec, and there was lobbying somewhere, and this is all the government can come up with. It is not delivering the goods.
Therefore, giving an employer the right to hire strike breakers if he negotiates is purely cosmetic and is not an acceptable solution. It is essential that this be re-worked in committee.
Another current issue, the right of RCMP officers to form a union, has often been raised here.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not always been good friends of Quebec's sovereignists. However, it is a police force that has duties to perform and that is entitled to a certain level of independence with respect to its employer in order to be able to carry out its work effectively. This demand has also been on the table for a number of years. There are practices that exist in labour relations with police forces in a number of Canadian provinces. Unions have been formed and are doing well, and labour relations are good. Here also, the federal government is sidestepping its intended reform.
The minister says there has been no reform for 25 years and that an overhaul is necessary. If we want an in-depth reform, we need to have these two elements at the outset, namely a provision prohibiting the hiring of scabs and the possibility for RCMP staff to become unionised.
There is another area where the minister has not listened to the recommendations made by the consultation committee. It is about appointments to the Canada Industrial Relations Board. Management as well as unions wanted board appointments based on lists proposed by management and union representatives.
Yet, the minister has left the door open to appointing people who might not meet with the approval of one of the parties involved in industrial relations but who might nevertheless meet with the approval of the Liberal Party of Canada, for example. At any rate, the minister is leaving a door open, is leaving some room for political manoeuvering, in short, for political appointments.
I think the minister will have time to think about that. I hope the committee will, in its wisdom, add amendments to ensure that appointees are truly experts in the field, so that the Canada Industrial Relations Board will have a solid and enviable reputation for its competence and for the fact that its members truly represent the world of work meaning both employers and employees.
Unfortunately, in the first supposedly major reform in 25 years, we see no reference to preventive withdrawal for pregnant women. In Quebec, those measures already exist and have been in effect for a number of years.
Here, in Canada, there is no mention of this at all. However, there are sectors where the number of female workers is very significant and where working conditions may be difficult. More and more new technologies are being used, and often their impact is not sufficiently known. We cannot afford to put a pregnant woman or her child at risk. This is not an area where we can proceed by trial and error.
I think that, considering the level of our modern technologies, society in Canada and Quebec should be just as innovative in the way it treats workers. As far as preventive withdrawal for pregnant women is concerned, I hope that in committee, the government will improve on its proposals to reform of the Canada Labour Code. I hope various groups will make representations and persuade the government to change some of its positions and be sensitive to certain arguments, including this one, and to understand the relevance of taking action.
I think the women of Canada would be grateful to the government if they saw this provision added to the bill, and it is quite surprising that the present government has failed to understand the relevance of making changes of this kind for the entire sector regulated by the Canada Labour Code.
In concluding, I may say that the Canada Labour Code is another flagrant example of the fact that jurisdictions in Canada are unnecessarily fuzzy. Within the same province, some people come under the Quebec Labour Code and some people under the Canada Labour Code. There is no similarity between the two. In Quebec, under working conditions which should be the same, some workers will not be covered under the antiscab legislation while others will be because they come under the Quebec Labour Code. This situation makes no sense to me.
This is the result of the implementation of the Canadian Constitution through the years without any amendment or improvement, and today we have two classes of citizens and double standards. This means that some workers come under a provincial code which is closer to the people-the government is more in touch with reality, more aware of certain issues such as the protective re-assignment of pregnant workers. The fact that it has been responsible for the implementation of social legislation might have heightened its sensitivity. It might also be due to the kind of governments we have had since it is indeed an area where Quebec has been ahead for a long time.
Last week, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Parti Quebecois. Obviously it implemented a wide range of measures with positive results. To conclude, I will say that the opportunity is still there for the Government of Canada to get with it and bring about its reform.
We do not proceed with a reform of the Canada Labour Code every year, in fact there had not been one in 25 years, therefore the Canadian government should do its job in committee. To conclude, I will repeat what I believe to be the four major points: make sure effective antiscab measures are in place; allow the appointment of members to the Canada Labour Relations Board from lists provided by those involved; take measures providing for the protective re-assignment of pregnant women; and, as a whole, see to it that measures which will be taken will ensure that we have a real Canada Labour Code in the years to come.