Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues' week is off to a good start.
I am delighted by what I am hearing today. Of course, I was equally delighted by what I heard during the first hour of this debate at second reading.
I am very moved to see that Bill C‑378 will probably receive unanimous support. As the bill's sponsor, I find that extremely gratifying, although the spotlight does not belong to me. It really belongs to these former workers. As things stand, they have only three months to file a complaint if they were victims of workplace harassment or violence. Three months is the blink of an eye. It is not enough.
When I was the minister responsible for labour at the Quebec National Assembly, I reviewed all of the labour standards, and I worked very hard to ensure that this aspect was reviewed and corrected in workplaces to ensure that, in Quebec at least, the time frames are the same for former employees as they are for current employees. Here, in the federal government, current employees are not held to any limitation period, unlike former employees who have only three months, which is obviously not enough time.
Unlike what the member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles suggested, this is not a new-found interest for me. I am grateful for his support, of course, but he implied that the Conservatives have just developed a new-found interest in the cause of workers. That is not true at all. I can prove that this has been an ongoing interest and concern of mine over the past few years. My colleague from Dufferin—Caledon also articulated that very well. Conservative members have introduced many private members' bills in the House to greatly improve the situation of workers in federally regulated workplaces.
I am very pleased with the unanimity we have in the House. Even though our debates can sometimes get a little heated, we are also able to share a common vision and work to keep protecting employees.
The government had already included the possibility of extending the time limit by three months. In other words, the government already knew that the short time frame might be challenging for the victims who want to make a complaint. We know how long it can take for a person to realize they have been a victim of harassment or violence in the workplace. Often, in the span of three months, there is not enough time for the individual to realize they were victimized. Then the deadline expires and, ultimately, the person has no recourse. Two years is patently a reasonable amount of time.
I will close by quoting Cindy Viau, director general of the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement au travail for the province of Quebec, who said the following about the two-year time limit that exists in Quebec and that I want to implement here:
In addition, at the provincial level, we note from our experience that very few people who contact us find it difficult to initiate the complaint process within the two years set out in the Act respecting labour standards. Since the time limit was changed in 2018, we have only on very rare occasions had to explain to a victim that they had missed their deadline to file a complaint.
All that to say we are on the right track. We have a good objective, a common goal to protect workers from harmful workplace behaviours like harassment and violence. It is the least we can do to give a full two years' recourse to those who have left their jobs.