Mr. Speaker, as you know, today has been a very eventful day. So I would like to thank our collaborators behind the scenes, especially Sylvain Gauthier, who kept his cool under pressure.
As the parliamentary secretary knows, we support Bill C-3. It might be useful to remind those listeners who have just tuned in that the purpose of Bill C-3 is to devolve responsibility for labour relations to the provinces that will ask for it through regulatory negotiations. I think we should also remind them that bills such as this one are related to the Canada Labour Code, an area from which the federal government is willing to withdraw.
This bill results from a ruling made by the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court. In 1993, the Supreme Court ruled in response to an appeal filed by the union that part I of the Canada Labour Code governing labour relations applies to the employees of nuclear plants, including Ontario Hydro.
It is important to keep this in mind because Parliament has a duty to adjust to court rulings. Through this bill, Parliament is correcting a situation that would have been extremely harmful as it would have created a legal vacuum. The parliamentary secretary referred to it in the case of New Brunswick and Quebec. This situation would have put us in an uncomfortable situation that no one wants by allowing two different labour systems to coexist.
We must remember that it makes a lot of sense to ask the provinces to define, frame and apply provincial legislation in this area, as the Ontario government has done for 50 years in the area of nuclear energy, for example. So we must commend what the federal government has done by trying to maintain the status quo.
We must acknowledge that Bill C-3 concerns not exclusively but mainly Ontario. I would like to remind you that, of the 10,000 nuclear workers across the country, there are 6,000 to 8,000 in Ontario, 700 in Quebec, about 500 in New Brunswick and 500 in Saskatchewan's uranium mines.
The situation was particularly worrying for Ontario. That it why they followed the work of the parliamentary committee very closely. Both parties were heard, since the nuclear industry accounts for 60 per cent of electricity generation in Ontario.
I am not saying that we did not try to introduce amendments to Bill C-3. Although we agree with the principle of devolving responsibility for this area-and we hope that this will extend to other areas and that the Minister of Labour can influence the minister responsible for intergovernmental relations and other ministers in this cabinet to transfer certain areas of jurisdiction-this bill nonetheless does not meet with unanimous approval.
It does not meet with unanimous approval first of all because Ontario Hydro union members are not too crazy about being subject to provincial labour legislation in light of the Harris government's shift to the right.
Even so, we, in the official opposition, did not succumb to the temptation of seeing things the same way as workers who did not have an overall view. The government took the overall view of withdrawing from the area of labour relations in the nuclear industry because the provinces, and Ontario, New Brunswick and Quebec in particular, had respectively 15, 30 and 40 years experience in that area.
I am thrilled at the thought of being able to rely on the support of the Minister of Human Resources Development, whose global outlook on things make him take an interest in matters as diverse as unemployment and energy, which in his mind are both explosive issues.
That said, let me remind you that we suggested amendments that the government rejected, with a rare elegance mind you, but rejected nonetheless. I owe to the truthfulness of our deliberations to remind you that the Quebec government had contacted the hon. member for Saint-Léonard and Minister of Labour, requesting that the applicable Quebec legislation be referred to specifically in his bill.
It must be understood that, while we agree in principle with the bill, we would rather this not be done through regulations but through references in the act instead. I understand the minister for giving in to his officials, explaining that he was not comfortable with the idea of yielding to Quebec's demands, because of the risk of creating a precedent that could have been detrimental to New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan.
At any rate, Quebec's position concerning Bill C-3, which, I remind you, we agree with in principle, would have been that it should refer directly to provincial legislation rather than to regulations and that it should state that, as soon as the act came into effect, after receiving royal assent, all provincial legislation regarding those employed by the companies governed by the Atomic Energy Control Act will become applicable.
For information, the legislation provides that, when the Government of Canada, through its minister responsible, the Minister of Labour, and his Quebec counterpart have negotiated an agreement, no third party will be authorized to request that the legislation apply on that territory. Naturally, the authority to negotiate rests with the province or the provincial government.
I think that it is important to remember that, in Quebec's case, six pieces of legislation are involved, including the act respecting labour standards, the Quebec equivalent to the federal government's Labour Code, Part III, and the act to ensure that essential services are maintained. We always refer to this legislation with great pride, because it was passed in Quebec by the government of the late René Lévesque and is definitely the answer to our labour relations problems. The Minister of Labour should follow that model, so as to have similar provisions in the federal labour code.
The measures that will also be applied through regulations are, of course, the provincial labour code-it is essential to the bill-Quebec's occupational health and safety act, its charter of rights, as well as all the regulations governing the construction industry.
You would have been touched by all the excitement around the Minister of Labour. His whole staff was mobilized. This bill is a pet project of the minister. His staff was truly excited and wanted to make sure that we could pass the bill as quickly as possible. I can understand the minister's enthusiasm; indeed, promoting democracy is always an exciting moment in the career of a public figure. This is the first bill sponsored by the new Minister of Labour in this House. Still, it would have been nice if he had accepted the amendments proposed by the opposition. As you know, one would be hard pressed to find a single one of these amendments that is either unreasonable or unjustified.
Yet, our amendments were rejected. Nevertheless, we will support the bill, but we feel it would have been appropriate to refer directly to the act, instead of going through a regulatory framework which has a major drawback in that it does not get Parliament involved.
In the case of a bill on labour relations, it is vital that Parliament be involved.
In any case, the debate is over and the issue has been dealt with. As a democrat, I accept the parliamentary rules and I will abide by the decision made by the sub-committee.
I also want to remind this House that, should a labour conflict or an emergency situation occur, it will incumbent on each participating province to ensure that the situation or conflict is resolved under provincial laws.
In spite of the labour minister's enthusiasm because of the imminent passing of Bill C-3, the real test for him will definitely be the anti-scab legislation. As you know, consultations were held across the country and the Sims report was tabled, so as to immediately give an indication of what the government should do regarding Part I of the labour code.
I think the government will have to introduce an anti-scab bill. This will be a test of political courage. As you know, in politics, courage is a rather rare commodity; moreover, it is unevenly distributed. Mr. Speaker, I would go so far as to say that it is generally more prevalent on your left than on your right, but I realize you cannot do anything about that.
Again, the real test will be the anti-scab legislation. We urge the government to introduce this legislation. I even told the minister, in sub-committee, that if he wishes so, we are prepared to continue our work until the government can propose a model.
What does an anti-scab bill entail? The Quebec government provides a very eloquent example. We are talking about an instrument of last resort-after all, a strike is also an ultimate means, not a marginal one. Yet, for reasons that are often related to the deterioration of labour relations, a power struggle ultimately results in a strike action. Consequently, it is necessary to have a tool to alleviate tensions under such circumstances.
This instrument helps labour relations in such a context, because workers who go on strike, usually on the advice of their union, are aware that even if they walk out they will not lose their job once the conflict is over.
I will conclude by saying that we will support this bill, that the work in committee was rather pleasant, in spite of the fact that the very reasonable amendments proposed by the Bloc Quebecois were rejected. I remind the minister that we hope to work on an anti-scab bill. This will be the true measure of his ability to deal with labour relation issues.