Human Resources committee  I will defer to my colleagues on that question. From our perspective, the Canada Industrial Relations Board needs more resources. Given this pending legislation and its ultimate passage, the implications for more enforcement through the bill have the further implication that mor

Human Resources committee  Sure. Similar to my brother Nicolas beside me here, I think it will stabilize the collective bargaining process, because as we know and as my brother from United Steelworkers mentioned, it's a power situation. When we're at the bargaining table, we have an equal amount of power,

Human Resources committee  I think my opening comments gave a very good example of how replacement workers prolonged a job action in British Columbia for up to six years. It's concerning when an employer can drag out a process for that length of time through legal proceedings and through delays at the Cana

Human Resources committee  Absolutely not. The strike is the absolute last resort for a union when they have failed to reach an amicable agreement at the bargaining table. A strike imposes and has our membership endure hardships that many of us cannot imagine. Union leadership takes great time and consider

Human Resources committee  I think part of the challenge is when you allow exceptions for replacement workers. Where do you find that line with respect to what work is in the national interest, for example? What work is necessarily involved for the maintenance of critical infrastructure? I think the best

Human Resources committee  I think it's just a delay of process and the willingness of a company who's using replacement workers to continue along that process as long as they possibly can.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Sean Strickland, and I serve as the executive director of Canada's Building Trades Unions. We are the national voice for over 600,000 skilled tradespeople in Canada who belong to 14 international unions and work i

Finance committee  Absolutely. Thank you for the question, MP Baker. In my travels across the country, and in working with my colleagues on provincial trades councils and working with owners and developers of projects, the list of projects that are being reviewed right now is unprecedented in Cana

Finance committee  As we all know, housing is a particular challenge for Canadians. We think that the more focus that can be brought on housing will help bring more housing to the market. We also know that it's not typically a federal area of responsibility. Regarding municipal, provincial, federal

Finance committee  Absolutely. We need to provide opportunities to young people and to Canadians. I say “young people”, but the average age of apprentices across Canada is approximately 27, which would surprise people. Younger people tend to come to the construction trades after a journey of post

Finance committee  That's a really good question. We quite frankly would like to see that number a bit higher. In the U.S., in the Inflation Reduction Act, it's 15%. We had advocated originally when the bill was in its infancy for a higher percentage. We want to make sure that we find the right nu

Finance committee  Thank you for that question, MP Baker. I think this is a real game-changer in terms of levelling the playing field so that all construction workers.... To me, if the people of Canada are going to forgo, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, up to $22 billion in lost r

Finance committee  With regard to the labour mobility tax deduction, that was a very progressive measure that was passed in the previous budget, in 2022, I believe. That is something that Canada's Building Trades Unions has been working on for decades in terms of providing incentives for constructi

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Morantz. I stand by my comments that I made back in November and December. I can say that right now in Windsor on the NextStar plant there are approximately 1,400 Canadian workers building the base building. That will peak at about 1,600. We still hav

Finance committee  That really is the secret sauce to determining how much labour we need for projects that aren't strictly defined. Many projects that would appear on a pipeline of projects await final investment decisions. One of the challenges that we have in the construction industry is providi