Claudette Bradshaw

[Homelessness, October 18th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, as I have explained to the hon. member on several occasions, the responsibility that the Prime Minister gave to me was to co-ordinate the issue of homelessness because of all the reports that were coming in to our offices. It is not a task force report.

What the staff and I are doing is taking all of the recommendations that were received and I will be presenting to caucus and to our members the recommendations I received through reports coming in as well from my trip.

I have to say that the support I received from cabinet and caucus members—

[Labour, October 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, as of September 29, 1999, fair wages in our labour act has been in place in the country. That will mean for our workers that any workers who work on a federal contract will be paid fair wages. The schedule will be posted and the workers will know what their wages should be.

I would like to thank the unions and the construction workers across the country for helping us to put this in place. I am very happy that it has been done.

[Points Of Order, June 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I am very confident that the ratification is going to come through. If it does not, the air traffic controllers cannot go on strike until the CLRB tells us what are essential services.

If the House has to come back, I am sure every member in the House will be happy to come back because we followed the process. I must tell the House that the air traffic controllers cannot go on strike until it goes in front of the CLRB for essential workers.

This is a great day for the process in the labour department. I want to thank everybody involved. The air traffic controllers will not go on strike without the CLRB's approval.

[Points Of Order, June 9th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I want to announce to the House that as of nine minutes ago, the dispute between Nav Canada and the air traffic controllers is over.

[Nav Canada, June 7th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, both parties are at a crucial time right now. My staff is working both with NavCan and CATCA. It would jeopardize the situation if I commented any further. We are in crucial negotiations. I hope to see and end to this dispute soon.

[Homelessness, June 7th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, the government started when it appointed me as a conciliator. It appointed 19 different departments that we are now working with. We have done something.

We want to make sure that this time when we come with recommendations for homelessness that it is sustainable, that we fix it and that we never see the problem happening again in the country.

[Homelessness, June 7th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to inform the hon. member that I am not the minister for homelessness. I am the Minister of Labour. I was asked to co-ordinate homelessness.

I was at the FCM meeting. I met with the FCM executive. The hon. member for Oak Ridges will to continue to meet with the FCM. We are going to take its report and look at its recommendations. I want to assure every Canadian that something will be done on homelessness.

[Poverty, June 1st, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, we have put in place a secretariat. We have 19 different departments which deal with homelessness and we are co-ordinating the program so that we can meet the needs of the homeless.

We have also put 10 facilitators in 10 Canadian communities who are going to work with the municipalities and the provinces to make sure that all of the programs for the homeless are co-ordinated.

I will be travelling all of July and part of August to meet with the municipalities and the provinces, as well as various non-profit groups.

[Employment, May 13th, 1999]

Mr. Speaker, when I became Minister of Labour, a majority of members of parliament asked me to make fair wages one of my priorities.

I can inform the House that new regulations are being drafted. In late June 1999, in the provinces where there are no current wage schedules, Statistics Canada will conduct surveys to collect information to establish fair wage schedules.

The good news is that fair wage schedules will be in place in the fall of 1999 at the same time as the revised regulations.

[Starred Questions, April 30th, 1999]

The Government of Canada has a continuing strong commitment to the implementation, and where possible, the ratification of Internaltional Labour Organization, ILO, core conventions.

Although the authority to ratify an ILO convention is exclusively federal, the implementation of most ILO conventions falls under both federal and provincial jurisdictions, given the division of powers over labour matters under the Canadian Constitution.

For this reason the longstanding practice in Canada, as regards ILO conventions which fall under both federal and provincial/territorial jurisdictions, like Convention 98, has been to ratify only if all jurisdictions concur with ratification and undertake to implement the convention's requirements within their respective jurisdictions.

With respect to Convention 98, there is a high level of conformity in Canada to the convention's major principles, which include protection against acts of anti-union discrimination and workers' and employers' interference in each other's affairs, and the encouragement and promotion of voluntary collective bargaining. However, Canada has not ratified Convention 98 because there are some divergencies between the convention's requirements and the Canadian situation.

The main obstacle to ratification is that, with the exception of the armed forces and the police and “public servants engaged in the administration of the state”, Convention 98 does not provide for any exclusions from collective bargaining rights. However, in Canada, a number of jurisdictions exclude some other types of workers, such as agricultural workers and certain professionals, from their collective bargaining legislation. This has been interpreted by the ILO as not being in compliance with Convention 98.

Officials of the labour program of Human Resources Development Canada have recently sought further clarifications from ILO officials concerning Convention 98's requirements, with a view to initiating a re-examination of the potential for Canadian ratification of Convention 98, in consultation with the provinces and territories as well as the social partners.