Mr. Speaker, we were talking about Bill C-20, although that seems like a long time ago after what we have just been through.
Bill C-20, in a nutshell, is about two things that we need to deal with today. The whistleblowing aspect for telemarketing fraud is first and foremost. Second is an issue we have not heard talked about much today, the prenotification of mergers process, the attempts to strengthen and simplify this process.
The reason I raise this is that it is a matter of record. The NDP did not vote in favour of Bill C-20 when it came up last spring and that was our reservation about the bill.
We applauded the effort to clean up telemarketing fraud and to implement whistleblower protection for employees. That certainly is in keeping with our policy. We are very pleased to see any reference to whistleblowing raised.
We could not vote in favour of Bill C-20 due to this other aspect, the prenotification of mergers process with which we simply were not comfortable. The reason we are dealing with Bill C-20 today is that it went through third reading. It went to the Senate and came back to us with amendments, the key amendment being the elimination of any reference to whistleblowing.
This is a great disappointment to us. We are very much of the mind that it is time to recognize whistleblowing protection in our public service and in the private sector. We believe good managers would welcome whistleblowing because it helps to alert them to wrongdoing of any sort throughout the enterprise over which they might have jurisdiction.
Certainly in the public sector our managers could use an improved level of whistleblowing to alter them to, for instance, the misuse of funds within their own government agencies.
Whistleblowing is an issue we have been hearing a great deal about in labour circles. The trade union movement has recognized for a great deal of time the need for whistleblowing protection because actually in common law the obligation of loyalty to the employer is paramount.
If an employee blows the whistle on some sort of wrongdoing and causes some inconvenience for the employer, discipline is actually justified in that case, especially if the employee is mistaken, even if they turned in the circumstances without any malice and with the best of intentions.
If the employee was wrong without any saving clauses in legislation to back them up, they could be disciplined and even discharged from their workplace for pointing out these wrongdoings.
Whistleblowing is key and paramount to backing up workers and helping them feel comfortable with alerting the public or their employer about wrongdoing of any kind. Telemarketing fraud, we heard today, a $100 million a year problem, lends itself to this kind of manipulation of employees or intimidation or coercion.
These are often poorly paid employees working in a call centre of some type. If the employer is an employer who would willingly undertake fraudulent enterprises or criminal activity, chances are pretty good they are not a very good employer either. They are the type of employer who would intimidate, coerce, harass the employees for blowing the whistle on them or for even threatening to or for even revealing to the public the true nature of the fraudulent enterprise that is going on.
I believe we need to do everything we can to clean up the telemarketing industry. I think it is actually rife with fraud. Frankly, the direct marketing people welcome any legislation that would help improve the image of that industry.
I do not think there is a lower form of animal than the telemarketing fraud practitioner who would take advantage of often seniors or shut-ins or people who are vulnerable and incapable of making good judgment about the products they have been asked to purchase.
I have a personal experience with this. An elderly relative of mine was in her late nineties when she started being harassed by unscrupulous telemarketing companies which by the way seem to share lists.
Once one gets its hooks into a senior citizen, the others seem to come in like vultures. It seems a whole series of sales people have started to harass this elderly relative of mine and have taken her for most of her life savings. For instance, absolutely fraudulent work has been done to her home. One salesman told her on the phone that her chimney looked like it was pulling away from her house. Being in her late nineties she was not able to go outside to see whether or not it was true. They sold her a $5,000 fix-it job to reattach the chimney to her house.
Being in the building trades, when I went to visit her next and learned of this I went outside to look at the chimney and found that it had never been leaning away from the house and had never been fixed. It is absolute, blatant fraud. They realized that they had a live one on the wire because she was a single woman in her late nineties living alone and with only home care.
We have an obligation to do everything in our power to try to stop that kind of activity. I compliment aspects of Bill C-20 if there is anything we can do to limit this type of activity.
I said this was the lowest form of animal in my mind, the person who would deliberately defraud vulnerable people or shut-ins. Frankly I have more respect for somebody who would mug than somebody who would cheat in this fashion. I have more admiration for somebody who sticks someone up and steals a wallet. At least they can see it coming; the person is being forthright about it. However this kind of stealth is a reprehensible problem.
We would stop more of these people if we had this whistleblower protection and employees who have been engaged, and often against their will, in sucking these people would feel comfortable in blowing the whistle. If there were some wrongdoing going on we would be able to stop more of them.
It is a coincidence that today I plan on handing down to the journals branch my own whistleblowing legislation in the form of a private member's bill. It is very thorough and comprehensive. It deals with the Public Service Staff Relations Act. I am hoping that other members of parliament will see fit to support it. As I say, good managers welcome whistleblowing because it points to all kinds of opportunities for savings or efficiencies within the system.
Bill C-20, as we expect, will go through. The NDP is pleased to say that we can support the motion made by the Minister of Industry today. I listened to the minister's remarks and I found that I could associate myself with them quite easily. It is quite honourable that we are trying to do something about the fraud that exists in that industry.
One of the biggest issues is the reporting of price fixing. This is one aspect the minister pointed out. We believe the Direct Marketing Association, as I mentioned, is eager to have the reputation of its industry improved, and it will be done through this regulation. I should point out that it is not a heavy-handed regulation. It is not interference in the free market by any stretch of the imagination. This is regulation for consumer protection and for the well-being of this rapidly growing industry.
I am pleased to say that the NDP will be voting in favour of the motion. I am also pleased that there will at least be some reference, even without the kind of penalties that we would like, in Bill C-20 to whistleblower protection.