moved:
That, in the opinion of this House, the Criminal Code or other appropriate federal statutes should be amended in accordance with Recommendation 73 of the Province of Nova Scotia's Public Inquiry into the Westray disaster, specifically with the goal of ensuring that corporate executives and directors are held properly accountable for workplace safety.
Madam Speaker, I thank the hon. member for Cumberland—Colchester, my neighbouring member of parliament, for his seconding of this motion.
Motion M-455 pertains particularly to one terrible moment in time, almost seven years ago in the small community of Plymouth in Pictou county, Nova Scotia when a terrible explosion ripped through the Westray coal mine. I will reiterate the motion:
That, in the opinion of this House, the Criminal Code or other appropriate federal statutes should be amended in accordance with Recommendation 73 of the Province of Nova Scotia's Public Inquiry into the Westray disaster, specifically with the goal of ensuring that corporate executives and directors are held properly accountable for workplace safety.
I would like to take a brief moment to thank the draggermen who were involved very much in the marvellous and incredible efforts that were made to attempt to locate the 26 men who lost their lives underground that tragic day on May 9, 1992. Many of those draggermen came from Cape Breton. Surely Cape Breton is a place unlike any other in this country. It has had more than its share of tragedy.
The overriding attempt behind this motion would be to remind government and in fact all parliamentarians that we in this place and in provincial legislatures throughout the country must do everything in our power to ensure that there is a safe workplace for those who are engaged in labour activity. I speak not only of mines. I speak of fish plants. I speak of fishermen, of course, fisherpersons on the water. I speak of any factory and any situation where workers might find themselves encountering danger.
The method to do this is through enactment of legislation. As we are all aware, that is sometimes a very daunting prospect to put somehow into law provisions that will encourage those in the industry to abide by these legislative initiatives to ensure safety.
I suggest quite strongly that knowing criminal sanctions or other disciplinary acts of retribution exist is the most direct way to ensure that those with the implicit responsibility for ensuring safety will abide. This would lead to a higher level of accountability among executives, CEOs and management in companies that directly benefit from what might be phrased expediency over safety in the workplace.
This motion is based upon a recommendation, historically for reference purposes, that came from the Westray mine public inquiry which was conducted by Mr. Justice Peter Richard, a very prominent judge in the province of Nova Scotia. It was tabled in 1997 after a very lengthy public inquiry into the explosion at the Westray mine in Plymouth, Nova Scotia.
It is also important to note that for a partial period of time simultaneous to this public inquiry, a criminal prosecution was proceeding through the courts at various levels and eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. The prosecutors in this case had a very difficult time presenting evidence. There was much procedural interference, one might suggest, in terms of the presentation of evidence to the courts.
I knew many of the prosecutors who were involved in that case. Peter Rosinski, Herman Felderholf, Andrew MacDonald and others worked extremely hard, very diligently to present the evidence on behalf of the crown. Similarly, I acknowledge the work of the defence counsel who, in fairness, were presenting evidence to the contrary and certainly doing their very best to defend their clients, as is their lot.
However, one might suggest because of the interpretation of the Criminal Code provisions, particularly those that refer to criminal negligence and manslaughter, these are provisions of the code that anyone having practised law will be quick to acknowledge are sometimes very blurry in terms of the evidentiary proof that is required to obtain a conviction.
I am not at all suggesting the Criminal Code provisions are the only provisions that should be examined in the context of improving these situations for workers in the workplace. However, this is certainly the starting point and one would suggest it is in keeping with the recommendations of Mr. Justice Richard.
Section 220 of the Criminal Code refers specifically to criminal negligence causing death; similarly section 234 refers to manslaughter. There may be the need as well to introduce amendments to these sections that would broaden the scope of culpability, or perhaps even go so far as to make specific reference to executives, directors, persons in management positions, persons who, one could draw the inference, are in a position of trust when it comes to the supervision of a workplace.
I brought this motion forward with the hope that the explosion at the Westray mine in Plymouth will not be forgotten. I can assure the House and Canadians generally that those in Pictou county and in all of Nova Scotia certainly recall with horror that period of time in May 1992 when this terrible tragedy occurred.
More important I think at this time the recommendations of the inquiry themselves should not be forgotten so that this tragedy would not have been in vain. It is in the hope that we in this place would learn lessons from what occurred at the Westray mine and we might somehow go forward from this point in attempting to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Surely when it comes to the criminal law, in fact when it comes to the passing of legislation, one of the first and foremost obligations that should be in the minds of legislators is that of prevention and that of improving the quality of life of those affected.
The devastation of that Mother's Day nearly seven years ago has left a long and painful memory in the hearts and minds of miners in the province of Nova Scotia. The explosion at the Westray coal mine sent a very chilling message to persons. The message was that haste and sometimes political expediency and sometimes the pursuit of financial gain can often put persons in danger when it comes to this type of enterprise.
The death of the 26 coal miners was so foreign and unexpected to a peaceful community like Plymouth that from the very second that those fathers, brothers and sons were taken away from their families, people were left immediately thinking of ways that such a tragedy could have been prevented.
I can only add to that the feelings the recent shooting in Colorado conjured up for me and others, the harsh reality of how quickly an entire community can be affected in such a way. I am sure the people of Littleton, Colorado are feeling some of the same emotions, although on a different level and certainly a different level of criminal act. However, I would suggest the immediacy and the sudden impact is similar to what was felt in the community of Plymouth.
It alarms us all to no end that such tragedies can occur and that no change results. The circumstances of the Westray mine cannot be forgotten and the lessons learned. To take it one extension further, the efforts made with respect to the tabling of the Westray inquiry only to sit idle on a shelf and to not be adopted or at least examined further, taken that one step further by the Department of Labour, is again an abdication of a responsibility that exists within the federal parliament. It is painful and I would suggest puzzling to suggest that we will do nothing further at this time.
Westray was the only operating underground coal mine in Pictou county at the time of the explosion. Although Pictou county itself has a long and rich tradition of coal mining, this Pictou coalfield had been mined for nearly 200 years. The elements of the disaster that rest in the nature of coal mining with thick and gassy seams is something that Pictonians have become very familiar with.
The Foord seam itself, which was being mined by the Westray corporation or Curragh Inc., has hosted at least eight mines. The Allan shaft, the most productive and the one that lay just northwest of the Westray workings, finally closed in the 1950s. During its 40 year lifetime it experienced no less than eight methane explosions which on many occasions it is suggested were the result of unsafe working conditions.
There is a chilling foreshadow that existed in this community. One would draw the conclusion that proper research conducted into those dangerous conditions might in some way have entered into the preventative efforts that should have been made. It is easy to look back on it and to perhaps have 20/20 vision in hindsight.
I reiterate that the gist of this motion is to not let lie that report to gather dust on some shelf somewhere in this precinct when we can gain knowledge and insight into what hopefully could be prevented in the future.
The fundamental and basic responsibilities for the safe operation of an underground coal mine and indeed any industrial undertaking rests very much with owners and managers. Westray management, starting with the CEO, was required by law and certainly by good business practices and good conscience to design and operate a mine safely. Westray management after the fact certainly came under attack for shirking that responsibility.
The significance of that failure cannot be overstated or mitigated. Simply because others were also abdicating their responsibilities is not an answer. Shared responsibility can be said to be implicit in the recommendations that came from Mr. Justice Richard's report.
As in the criminal context, in the civil context as well we are certainly aware that shared responsibility is something that can be encompassed by the law. There was plenty of blame to go around in the Westray report. That statement itself is reflective of the findings of Mr. Justice Richard.
Not only in the mining industry but in any business venture, corporate executives sometimes seem less interested in the merits of workplace safety and simply in the pursuit of profit. This is a very dangerous situation that can exist. We must be mindful of this. This mindset itself is precisely what sets a dangerous tone in a workplace where tragedies and the creation of unsafe working conditions may exist.
Business executives and corporate executives should be prepared to seek input from front line workers and allow them as employees to be part of the management scheme to a degree when it comes to safety. They should be relied upon to lend their knowledge to create the maintenance of a safe work environment. That is something that was also acknowledged in the report.
It is not a politically popular thing to say, but there was an element of culpability and responsibility on the workers themselves. This has to be taken into the entire context of what should occur as far as legislative initiatives to ensure accountability and responsibility is held by all.
Businesses must also ensure that they have sufficiently trained employees in that area. This is where the top down and bottom up approaches must be encompassed in any legislative initiative aimed at workplace safety. I suggest and emphasize that particularly when it comes to the operation of a traditionally dangerous work environment where equipment, often heavy equipment, is being utilized in the operation of that enterprise.
Businesses must also ensure that their employees are adequately supervised and constantly updated on safe work practices. Part and parcel of that of the companies, the executives and the workers, there is also a strong need for bureaucratic responsibility and bureaucratic supervision.
Mine and labour safety standards were ignored, sadly, in the case of Westray, or at least not adhered to to the extent they should have been. Looking at this issue in the larger context there must also be attachment of responsibility to government officials who are negligent in the performance of their duties that result in such horrific outcomes.
Sadly in the past we have all witnessed poorly trained individuals on the job where proper training had perhaps not been offered that sometimes resulted in injury or loss of life. Not only is that practice bad for business but it has the incalculable human consequence. It is also unsafe for people on the job where they are operating equipment. They are not only endangering themselves but also their fellow workers are at risk if the person is not properly trained.
In the overall context, this goes right to the top and is something that management has to be made aware of, constantly reminded of. I look forward to hearing from the minister on this point. There have been efforts made in the past but this is a continuing process that will have to be revisited. We hope it can be revisited or that this motion may in some small part help in the impetus of looking for ways to legislate safety in the workplace.
It is essential that companies take the time to train employees so that additional risk is limited for employees and those around them. Management must ensure that the employees have an appreciation for any special dangers that may be inherent on a job site.
In the case of the Westray coal mine, many tradespersons were prone to perform unsafe tasks or take dangerous shortcuts in their work, never once being told differently by management of the huge potential that did exist in a mine as gassy and as potentially explosive as the Foord seam. In many cases there was no question that management may have been aware, or ought to have been aware, that safe mining practices were not being performed by the workers.
As stated in Mr. Justice Richard's report, there was a strong indication that Westray management was aware that levels of methane underground to which the coal miners were exposed were very hazardous and potentially explosive. Under section 72 of the Coal Mines Regulation Act such conditions mandated the withdrawal of workers from affected areas, and that of course is what one must presume prevented management from acting quickly.
It stands to reason that when weighing business goals versus those of safety, sometimes businesses find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. They have to make production deadlines. They have to produce and shutting an operation down obviously has huge financial consequences. That is where the human element and the safe discretion must be exercised.
If we need to remind executives and management and CEOs of this through legislation, I say we do it. It is implicit upon us that we act. Far too often businesses, and indeed heads of corporations, may be tempted by that financial gain and therefore put the safety of workers second. That type of short term gain could be for long term pain as we saw in the case of Westray. Of course I speak of the injury or death that can result. It is a very sad scenario.
Tough economic times that exist in the country put further pressure on workers. That is why this is so timely. The economic impact of having to shut down a corporation affects everyone in the company. The employees, the management, the board of directors, anyone associated with that business is going to feel a negative impact if there has to be an operational shutdown as a result of a potential breach of safety. But that is the cost of doing business and we have to do everything to ensure that those safe practices will be followed.
Companies must ensure that to avoid practising hazardous or illegal practices these acts cannot be condoned in any capacity. In some instances they are acts of omission that can result in the greatest harm as opposed to acts of commission. Companies, if they have not already done so, should do everything within their power to implement safe, ethical work practices.
Ethics such as this should be studied and followed everywhere in places of employment, even in upper management. If this is not the case, action must be taken to demonstrate the importance and the seriousness of the issue. Business executives must promote and nurture safe work ethics and have an open and approachable attitude toward their employees. No one ever wants to feel the effects we felt in Plymouth with the Westray mine.
I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this motion. I appreciate the attention and the support this motion should receive from all members of parliament.
