Mr. Speaker, this took a little while in arriving. We had a little juggling to do in the exchange of some different points of view. Finally we have agreed to end the day before 5.30 p.m., closing the debate on Bill C-3.
My remarks will be short. During the debate on Bill C-3 one aspect all hon. members will agree on is the desirability to administer labour law in Canada as efficiently as possible.
The government is committed to providing Canadian employers and workers with a stable environment in which to conduct labour relations. These goals are in essence the reason we have the legislation before us today.
Flexible federalism allows us to smooth out the rough edges where administrative difficulties arise. Ontario Hydro is a publicly held corporation constituted under the Ontario Power Corporations Act. It is the division of the enterprise responsible for the construction and operation of nuclear facilities in the province.
Currently this division includes Darlington, Pickering and Bruce generating stations and a number of other facilities.
This division groups together the three main power stations of Darlington, Pickering and Bruce and a number of other facilities.
Before the Supreme Court ruling in 1993, it had always been believed that the employees of Hydro Ontario nuclear power stations were governed by provincial labour standards.
Before the 1993 Supreme Court decision it was always believed that employees of nuclear facilities of Ontario Hydro were subject to provincial labour laws. This was not the case. Consequently the province and employees of the nuclear facilities found themselves in a complicated situation.
In effect 42 per cent of Ontario employees are subject to federal labour law while the remainder are subject to the labour laws of Ontario. As members of the House we are in a position today to enable both federal and provincial governments to untangle and to dispense with this dilemma.
At the same time it is certainly reasonable for hon. members to want a clear understanding of the effects these amendments will have. In 1993 the Supreme Court found that part I of the Canada Labour Code which governs industrial relations is applicable to employees of Ontario Hydro's nuclear facilities.
As a result of the decision it became clear that parts II and III of the Code and the Non-Smokers' Health Act also applied to these workers. Part II of the Code addressed occupational safety and health and Part III deals with labour standards, hours of work and such like.
The Supreme Court decision created a complicated and exceptional situation as employees, the company and unions must conform to two comparable but slightly different labour relation regimes. For example, Ontario Hydro and the unions must deal with two conciliation processes during the negotiation of collective agreements. In addition, they must conform with slightly different occupational safety and health regulations which provide essentially the same protection for workers. The provisions of the bill demonstrate the government's commitment to provide the parties with a stable labour relations environment.
Here is how the bill eliminates the problem of a split jurisdiction at Ontario Hydro. First, the company is exempted from having to comply with the Canada Labour Code. At the same time, the company is made subject to provincial labour laws which are incorporated by reference through federal regulation.
The mechanism may be triggered by passing regulations dealing with industrial relations, including ad hoc or emergency legislation, occupational health and safety matters, labour standards or workplace smoking rules and regulations. Once the regulations are in place, provincial laws can be applied to nuclear facilities.
In the case of collective bargaining, any bargaining agent that was recognized under part I of the Canada Labour Code would remain the bargaining agent under the provisions of the bill. This was a question that we were asked by the power workers of Ontario: would we guarantee that this would be the case? We said we could guarantee that it would be the case during the transition period and during the life of the agreement. That is all we can do. In fact, that is all anybody can do. It ensures successor rights to the bargaining agent and it prohibits other unions or associations from applying to represent that bargaining unit outside of regular procedures.
As I said, any collective agreement concluded under part I of the Canada Labour Code will continue in force until the life of the contract expires. That ensures that the rights, the privileges and the duties of both parties to the collective agreement remain intact. The solution is clear and it makes sense.
It is the desire of the government and the Government of Ontario to have all provincial labour laws apply to the province's nuclear facilities. Both governments agree that from a practical standpoint it is logical to have all legislation related to labour law at Ontario Hydro under one roof.
Since early 1994 both levels of government have been examining various ways of accomplishing this. Much discussion led to the development of Bill C-3.
However, the story does not end here. Nuclear generating stations in the provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec were also affected by the Supreme Court decision. The Point Lepreau generating station in New Brunswick and Quebec's Gentilly 2 appear to be in a legislative void for the purposes of labour law.
After crown immunity is lifted, the provisions of Bill C-3 can be applied to these nuclear facilities, thus eliminating the legislative void and providing a mechanism whereby provincial labour law may apply.
In addition, the mechanism may be applied to uranium mines in Saskatchewan which are also regulated by the Atomic Energy Control Act. The province of Saskatchewan has for many years been delivering its occupational safety and health programs to uranium mines in Saskatchewan. Strictly speaking, these mines are subject to the Canada Labour Code. There is no formal agreement between the two levels of government concerning the situation and the federal government would like to formalize the arrangement.
The way to do that would be to follow a similar route to that which is being done with Ontario Hydro, namely: to exempt these mines from application to part II of the Canada Labour Code; to incorporate Saskatchewan occupational safety and health laws into federal regulations; and to contract with the province of Saskatchewan to deliver its programs to these mines. There is a mechanism in part II of the code which could be used to achieve this, but only with respect to the occupational health and safety laws.
I want to stress that the passage of this bill will have no effect on the mandate of the Atomic Energy Control Board. The board has sole authority to ensure that the use of nuclear energy in Canada poses no undue risk to health, safety, security or to the environment.
For these reasons I ask all here today to support the bill. I know they will.
Before I sit down, I would like to thank all those who took part in the process. I thank members of the Bloc and the Reform Party who worked on the bill in the subcommittee. I thank the chairman of the subcommittee and other members, the clerk and the people from the department and the witnesses who appeared before us.
This bill simplifies the process. There is no need to have two or three jurisdictions looking after basically the same legislation. I thank all those who were so co-operative in helping me get passage of this bill.