Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure for me to say a few words on behalf of the Progressive Conservative Party in connection with Bill C-12, an act to amend the Canada Labour Code (Part II) in respect of occupational health and safety, to make technical amendments to the Canada Labour Code (Part I) and to make consequential amendments to other acts.
Part II of the Canada Labour Code addresses occupational health and safety, as they concern workers and management. The purpose of this bill is to promote health and safety with both workers and employers and to set out the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers in connection with existing or potential workplace hazards.
Labour-related issues are mainly a provincial responsibility. However, the federal public service, federal agencies, and international and interprovincial industries come under the jurisdiction of Ottawa. These industries include air, sea and rail carriers, oil pipelines, banks, broadcasting, uranium mining, ports and telecommunications.
The main thrust of this bill is to expand the role of health and safety committees, by conferring upon them the power to identify and remedy existing or potential hazards, and refusals to work arising out of such hazards, as promptly and efficiently as possible.
The purpose of the bill is to strike a better balance between the responsibilities of the government, employers and employees as far as promoting occupational health and safety is concerned, by placing emphasis on the rules and procedures enabling problems to be settled locally.
The bill is the result of consultations among the government, business and the unions in an effort to modernize our legislation on health and safety, which was last amended in 1985. In general, I think that this bill enjoys considerable support among the groups concerned and, on the whole, I support it.
However, I feel I must raise a number of questions and make some observations on it. No bill is ever complete or perfect. The legislative process is a living one, and those familiar with it, like us, know that laws must continually be amended and improved with the passage of time and changes in circumstances.
Bill C-12 introduces a new concept in the area of occupational health and safety, namely ergonomics. Subclause 125(1)( t ) provides that the employer is required to “ensure that the machinery, equipment and tools used by the employees in the course of their employment meet prescribed health, safety and ergonomic standards and are safe under all conditions of their intended use”.
It looks good, but it is a bit vague and short on details. For the layperson, ergonomics is a strange and sophisticated sounding word. It is, if I have understood correctly, the art or science of designing or changing the workplace to minimize the risk of accidents employees are exposed to in the normal exercise of their duties. I suppose that it is the application of the proverb an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Ergonomics is a good thing for employees and, in the long term, for employers too.
Perhaps the government intends to come out with regulations or guidelines on ergonomics, but the press kit for Bill C-12 is all but silent on the topic. However the U.S. Department of Labour has launched a major ergonomics initiative designed to prevent approximately 300,000 workplace accidents and save $9 billion annually.
The press release describes in detail the roles and responsibilities of unions and businesses with respect to the new ergonomic standards and shows clearly that the U.S. government is very advanced in this field.
Another aspect of safety in the workplace not mentioned in the bill is the psychological protection of workers, their right to work in an environment free of harassment and discrimination. These problems may cause just as much harm in the workplace as accidents or the risk of accidents.
Although the bill provides protection against unfair disciplinary measures for workers who report potential hazards, it does not seem to make any provision for ensuring a psychologically healthy workplace.
In addition, subsection 122(1) defines health as “the absence of physical disease or infirmity or mental illness arising out of, linked with or occurring in the course of employment”, but stipulates that “for the purposes of this definition, the effects of ordinary work place stress are not considered to be physical disease or infirmity or a mental illness”. In the modern world, physical or psychological stress takes a heavy toll in the workplace, particularly if it is repetitive in nature.
It is largely in order to do something about repetitive physical stress that we are encouraging the healthy ergonomic practices I mentioned earlier.
Perhaps the minister will want to touch on this issue during the debate, because I think stress elimination or stress prevention should have been among the main objectives of any legislation on occupational health and safety.
There is another positive aspect to this bill in that it takes into account the particular needs of pregnant or nursing employees. Under paragraph 132(1), an employee who is pregnant or nursing may refuse to work in conditions which she believes may pose a risk to the health of the foetus or child. She must have the existence of such a risk established by a physician of her choice. However, since the employer may reassign her to another job that would be less dangerous, we will have to see how this works out in practice.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada, one of the unions that took part in the consultations, to which I belong, wonders if the employee will be adequately protected under these provisions. Since it represents civil servants, of whom a large number are women, its concerns are legitimate.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada thinks it is unfortunate that employees who work on Parliament Hill are not subject to part II of the Canada Labour Code.
Under part III of the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, employees who work on Parliament Hill would be subject to part II of the Canada Labour Code, but it has not been enacted yet.
It would seem that the Liberal government is less eager to improve the occupational health and safety environment of persons working in the political environment of this parliament. I am not sure if that is meant to be a reflection on all of us or just the government.
Section 147 of the act prevents an employer from taking any form of disciplinary action against an employee who has taken part in a proceeding or inquiry relating to a workplace condition or incident. Missing in this section however is any reference to the protection of an employee who testifies before a parliamentary committee looking into occupational health and safety incidents or policies.
As parliamentarians we must never forget that our committees are often courts of last resort. No citizen should ever feel intimidated in appearing before or providing evidence to a parliamentary committee. A person who believes he or she has been disciplined for taking part in a workplace intervention can make a complaint to the board, which I assume means the Canadian Industrial Relations Board or the Public Service Staff Relations Board.
These boards, I also assume, are filled by order in council and as such are political appointments by the government in power. Perhaps the minister could provide us with a listing of the individuals involved so that we can judge for ourselves if they are appointed on the basis of merit or heaven forbid, only on the basis of political affiliation.
Another concern here is that a complaint made under this provision cannot be referred to arbitration or adjudication. Similarly, section 145.1 states that the minister can appoint an appeals officer to adjudicate a decision made through a local health and safety process. Again this is to some extent a political appointment and we have no guarantee that all ministers will be as circumspect as our current minister will be.
Section 146.3 states that the appeals officer's decision is final and cannot be reviewed by a court. I have big problems with any bill that consistently denies a citizen full access to due process. Perhaps the minister could explain the need for such restriction.
Section 135(1) indicates that a workplace with 20 or more employees must have a workplace health and safety committee. Yet section 135(2) exempts a ship from being required to have such a committee, be there 20 sailors or 200. Perhaps the minister could explain why.
Section 137.1 calls for the establishment of a coal mining safety commission. Why does this industry have its own safety commission? This commission too is appointed by the minister and serves during pleasure. If the safety of coal miners deserves special attention, I am not sure that ministerial appointments are the way to go especially when their remuneration and expenses are to be set by cabinet.
Similarly, section 139 empowers the minister to appoint medical practitioners to conduct medical surveillance and examination programs. Section 140 empowers the minister to designate a person as a regional safety officer. This also causes me concern that we are mixing safety and political appointments. I am not sure this is the way to go either.
The bill also contains some technical amendments to part I of the Canada Labour Code. I am told that when the minister appeared before a Senate committee on this part, the minister indicated that the next time this part was opened, the whole of it would be rendered gender neutral. The technical amendments have opened the matter but there is no sign of a gender neutral initiative. Will one be forthcoming?
All in all it is not a bad bill. It certainly makes progress in the field of occupational health and safety. However I have asked some questions and I have pointed out that there are too many political appointments, appointments that should be made in a more transparent arm's length process. I am confident the minister will address many of my concerns when she speaks again.