Mr. Speaker, the terms of the bill before us are under the guise of giving more powers to the provinces. If it did that, I would be all for it, but I suppose Bill C-35 is a small step toward eliminating useless, outdated regulations. The Canada Labour Code covers less than one million workers.
In 1986, the last time there was a change to the federal minimum wage, only one-tenth of one per cent or roughly 7,000 workers under federal jurisdiction were directly affected. While updated estimates are not available from department officials, there is a presumption that little has changed in that length of time.
In 1935, Canada ratified the ILO Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928, which specified that workers would be guaranteed a minimum wage in cases where wages were exceptionally low.
It was 1965 before Canada actually began setting minimum wage rates. Since the provinces regulate over 99 per cent of Canadian minimum wage earners, there was not much need for expediency. Since there have been only sporadic changes in the rates since 1965, it is evident that the federal minimum wage is not necessary.
Back in the 1930s an argument may have been made to justify a minimum wage in some countries to ensure that workers were not taken advantage of by single industry employers.
There is a general misconception that without a minimum wage workers would be exploited. Employers want the best workers available and often compete to hire them. Low wages often show there is an abundance of workers available, which is just an example of the supply and demand concept.
The minimum wage, rather than bringing the poverty level up, has the reverse effect. It encourages exploitation. It protects highly trained, well paid workers against competition from the young who lack experience and the unskilled people who require on the job training.
Unions, whose mandate it is to protect jobs and increase the wages of its members, support minimum wage rates to protect themselves from cheaper or trainee labour. Naturally, when asked to respond to the initiative aligning federal minimum wage rates with provincial rates, labour groups wanted the federal government to show leadership by maintaining a single rate that is higher than the provincial and territorial minimum wages.
Business groups, on the other hand, indicated the change would have virtually no impact on their operations as the lowest paid wages were competitive with and generally higher than the provincial wage rates.
In the last 10 years Canada has entered into international trade agreements with the U.S. and Mexico which include labour co-operation. There were also agreements with the provinces to cover the provisions of these accords.
If a minimum wage is deemed to be necessary to meet international agreements and conventions, the government could guarantee the continued existence of a minimum wage by concluding federal-provincial agreements on minimum wage rates. This would eliminate the perceived necessity of section 178(2) which gives the governor in council power to set rates should it disagree with the rate set by a province or territory.
The Minister of Natural Resources boasted a new spirit of co-operation between the federal and provincial governments to an Edmonton group last week. If this spirit of co-operation really exists, section 178(2) can be deleted. The understanding works out to ensure that the provinces maintain reasonable minimum wage standards.
High wages cannot be decreed but must be arrived at through years of experience in the workplace. In the nineties, advances in human rights, collective bargaining and consumer awareness make minimum wages, especially in the federal context, irrelevant.