Mr. Speaker, when a hundred people lost their jobs at Vertis Communications in Stevensville they did not think they would be left fighting to get $2.7 million in severance packages and termination pay, which they deserve and the company owes them. Unfortunately, this is the position they find themselves in after U.S.-based Vertis filed for bankruptcy in the United States, not Canada, and then closed its doors in Canada.
The workers have turned to the federal government to fight on their behalf under the wage earner protection program, a program designed to compensate eligible workers for unpaid severance and termination pay when their employer declares bankruptcy and goes into receivership. Just like countless times before, however, the government has turned its back on the workers in Niagara and ignored their pleas for help, and once again it is hard-working Canadians who are left out in the cold.
American companies enjoy millions of dollars of corporate tax breaks in our country.
We would like to say this is an exceptional case, but under the Conservative government's watch, we are seeing more and more U.S.-based companies shut down facilities in Canada, declare bankruptcy in the United States and deny workers what is owed.
Workers and their families are sick and tired. They deserve to get paid. I hope the government will find that—