Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to speak to Motion M-9, a motion put forward by the member for Wetaskiwin.
The member is urging the federal government not to reinstate wage schedules under the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act. He also wants provincial wages and hours to prevail. My hon. friend is a keen and intelligent observer of matters related to the work force. Very often he has interesting things to say. I do not usually find myself agreeing with his point, however, I do respect his dedication, commitment and knowledge of workplace issues.
With respect to this motion, I understand the reasoning behind it, but I do not support it for a number of reasons.
Let me begin by describing for the members of the House what Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act is exactly. The Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act began as a policy resolution of Parliament many years ago. It was in 1900. The act first emerged in 1935. It was passed to provide that every contract with the Government of Canada for the building, remodelling, repair or demolition of any construction project must contain obligations covering the payment of fair wages, hours of labour and other working conditions.
The objective here, which I sure the member supports, is to ensure that the expenditure of public funds does not result in the exploitation of labour. Because there is a Fair Wage and Hours of Labour Act every construction contract made with the federal government includes provisions requiring the contractor to pay the employees fair wages and to observe specified labour standards.
One effect of the legislation is to remove wages as an element in the tendering process. In other words all contractors who wish to tender on a federal government construction project will know in advance what rates they will be expected to pay for the labour component of their costs. A very good thing for contractors to know.
In the past the wage component of the act was administered by attachments of schedules of wage rates to the construction contract signed with contractors on federal construction projects. These schedules contain details pertaining to the classification of workers who were involved in the project and the fair wage rate for each classification in a particular geographic area. The fair wage rates were determined by wage surveys prepared by the federal Department of Labour. Another very good fair transparent way.
The process was discontinued in 1982, at least in part, because the cost of conducting the surveys was very high. As a result the obligation to pay the fair wage remained. It was left to the contractor to determine what that fair wage was. There are some obvious problems with that approach.
During recent consultation, interested parties told officials of the department that the act could not accomplish its legislative purpose without the publication of fair wage schedules. Even those who advocate the repeal of the act expressed the opinion that, should the act remain, then fair wage schedules would have to be published in order for the legislation to be effective.
An example of the problem associated with maintaining the act but not publishing the schedule is this. A complaint could lead to a decision during or after the completion of the project that the contractor was not paying a fair wage and must pay more retroactive to the beginning of the work. That kind of liability could obviously be disastrous to a contractor and I do not think there is anybody in this Chamber who would want that to happen.
Last April, after almost a year of consultations with stakeholders in the construction industry it was announced that the wage schedules would be reinstated. However, the announcement included the fact that a new process would be put in place for determining the schedules.
It is very important that we understand this new process. The idea is that the construction and labour relations associations which are employer groups located in every province will meet with the building and construction unions and also with the non-union contractor associations in each province and try to find a consensus on a range of fair wages for every trade.
With the new mechanisms all the stakeholders will have the chance to take part directly in the decision making of fair wages. If the schedules worked out by the stakeholders are consistent with the intent of the legislation then they will be adopted by government, but only then.
We believe in consultation and we believe that is a very important part of this legislation.
This method would seem to be a reasonable compromise. However, any compromise, any agreement as to what is fair is not always easy to achieve. While we believe the reinstatement of wage schedules is in everybody's interest because of the certainty it would bring to employees and employers, we are not 100% certain the process will work.
That is why we have a pilot project in the member's home province of Alberta to find out. This debate is very important and I thank the hon. member for bringing the subject forward. We are all concerned that we do the right thing.
It is unfortunate that the decision in this discussion is a bit premature. The fact is we will have better information once we have the results of the pilot project in Alberta and we should enter into that really gladly, because to find information, to find consultation should really be a goal of all members of Parliament.
Finally, let me turn to the other part of the member's motion which contemplates replacing federal wage schedules with provincial schedules. That idea fails to take into account that only five provinces and one territory have legislation similar to the Fair Wages and Hours of Labour Act. What would the member propose for the other jurisdictions?
The member has put a lot of thought into his motion. I congratulate him on beginning this important debate, but we are at the beginning. I believe we must wait for the results of the pilot project in Alberta before we debate the matter further.
The publishing of fair wage schedules after a transparent and open process leading to the establishment of those fair wages would allow workers and contractors to know what they will be receiving and what wages they will have to pay. There would be no surprises for anyone.
Certainly it would be premature at best to cancel a program which has every success, all partners, before this pilot project has even begun. I believe the member's motion must be defeated.