Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure to speak to Bill C-11. Motions Nos. 6 to 11 and 16 increase the participation of the people of Cape Breton on the board of Devco either by requiring an employee to be a director or specifying a percentage of the directors who must be on the board of the Devco pensioners association. This makes common sense. It speaks to a fairer and more equitable way to deal with the Devco situation. This has to provide some level of participation at the board level for either employees or former employees and pensioners.
If we go back 20 years or more with regard to labour relations, traditional industries have had some employee representation on their boards for some time. In the automobile industry, Chrysler was the first company to have representation from the UAW on its board. I am surprised that in the original legislation this had not been proposed.
The PC Party supports amendments that would provide a greater level of participation for employees and/or Devco pensioners. This would increase transparency and openness of the process and would ensure a fairer level of participation and representation for the miners.
The issues of pension and severance packages have been discussed at length in the House and at committee. There are some real inequities in the current pension structure. Under the current plan workers with less than 75 pension points, a combination of 25 years of service and 50 years of age, do not qualify. It creates some bizarre situations. Some miners with 25 years of pensionable earnings would not qualify for a pension because of the 75 pension point plan. This does not make a lot of sense.
Last week the federally appointed arbitrator ruled that miners with 25 years of mining experience would qualify for pensions regardless of age, but denied the same benefit for miners with 20 years of experience on the basis that it would be too costly. This change would allow an additional 246 miners to qualify for pensions. That is a step in the right direction. Medical benefits will be extended to 640 miners which also is a step in the right direction.
With regard to the Group No. 3 amendments, Motions Nos. 13, 14 and 15 would have the corporation's objectives continue to reflect the goal of providing increased levels of economic development—