Human Resources committee  If they don't receive the maximum, it means they've received some severance or some other payment from another source. The calculation would be that if you have received a payment and it takes you over the amount allowable, then we don't.... It's not a top-up program. It's a defined program of $3,400 for that purpose: to compensate in the event of bankruptcy--and soon, in the event of a restructuring.

Human Resources committee  Yes. In particular, Minister Lisa Raitt has a deep interest in defining occupational health and safety as encompassing mental health issues. The summer before last, she asked us to support her in round tables across the country with key stakeholders, some of them mental health practitioners and people from the Mental Heath Commission of Canada, but others who represented unions and employers of various types, to talk about the prevalence of mental health issues in the workplace, which sometimes amount to in the order of 40% of disability claims.

Human Resources committee  The framework draws on a number of best practice strategies that are both in the private sector and in the public sector. It also draws on participating with the Mental Health Commission in the development of national standards. For the labour program we have loaned our expertise of people who have worked on disability management, Government Employees Compensation Act, and occupational health and safety central to the development of the national standard.

Human Resources committee  No, actually. In my branch, I'm responsible for regional operations, for five regions across Canada. The bulk of them are actually in the regions: that's about 480 people. The total in the labour program is about 700.

Human Resources committee  The labour program did a strategic review, which was announced in March 2010, indicating that there would be reductions in the order of $7.3 million over three years. The findings of the Treasury Board ministers were that the labour program is important and relevant but that we should look at three areas.

Human Resources committee  It has been in the public domain that we have closed our industrial hygiene lab. That was done because of very reduced demand for that service and because of our analysis that provinces were no longer running laboratories of that type; they can be found in the private sector. We did need to work with the affected employees to see what their portable skills were and to move them along.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. I will go over some of the successes of the wage earner protection program. Since its inception, the WEPP has issued $89.5 million in payments to just over 40,000 applicants. Of these applicants, an average of 57% is currently getting the maximum payment of $3,400.

Human Resources committee  Again, we include these in our labour standards, under part III, but the actual rules and technicalities are split between HRSD and Service Canada in terms of benefits and policy guidance. While we cover the conditions in the workplace and ensure that people are conforming to this, we are not the ones who set the policy direction or actually do the payments.

Human Resources committee  I'll have to check on that.

Human Resources committee  Yes, that is correct. I have it confirmed.

Human Resources committee  I'm not aware of that right now because of it being a policy from HRSD, but I would say that the compassionate care was a response to understanding that a lot of people are faced with aging parents or sick children and how to bridge them with a new benefit. Generally, having worked in HRSD, I know there is a constant evaluation of programs and a constant thinking about what would be appropriate to respond to current circumstances.

Human Resources committee  Yes, it is.

Human Resources committee  Part II of the Canada Labour Code, health and safety.

Human Resources committee  That is in the skills and employment branch of HRSD, so unfortunately not with us.

Human Resources committee  That truly is outside of our mandate. I did speak of our racism-free strategy, which is about inclusion. It is not a temporary foreign worker or an immigration program; it is about Canadians who are within those designated groups.