Hon. Scott Tannas: Thank you, Senator Yussuff, for a very inspiring speech.

I was looking at the pre-study that was done by our Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology. There was a concern raised with respect to a lack of clarity around what’s known as the “stacking” of rights. Essentially, through your good work and that of the union movement, as well as the good employee relations of many, many organizations within the federal regulation — I’m thinking of banks and other large institutions that come under federal oversight — sick leave benefits exist within much of the federally regulated workforce.

The question that was asked, and the lack of clarity that was pointed out by the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, was whether or not this legislation was intended to be on top of existing benefits that employees have or whether this is a minimum that all employees should have. Can you provide clarity on that? There was a recommendation that some clarity be put into the bill, but I don’t think it made it into the bill. Could you comment? Maybe it did and I missed it. We’re moving quickly here. Could you comment on this, please, and give us some clarity?

Senator Yussuff: Thank you, Senator Tannas, for your question.

You are right, this issue was raised with the witnesses who came before the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology; both by my former colleagues and friends that I was working with at Federally Regulated Employers — Transportation and Communications and other witnesses.

I think the minister did circulate a letter saying they are going to have to address this in the regulations. More importantly, the 10 days is for workers working in the federal jurisdiction, and I think it is important that the government clarify this in the regulation. I think it’s contained in this letter.

[Translation]

Senator Tannas: I would agree. In fact, in your speech last night you raised your discomfort with this method of dealing with legislation. I agree with that.

On the question of unanimity in the House of Commons and how that ought to be a signal for us to waive our rights and obligations, I could argue the opposite. We are here to divorce ourselves from politics, and believe me, we would have to be the most naive creatures on the planet to think what happened with this bill didn’t involve a whole bunch of politics last night. It should be one of the first things we look at when there’s something unanimous coming from the House.

We had another example of it. It was maybe a result on Bill C-4; a result that we were all hoping for, that we would pass that bill. But the fact it came unanimously should be a cause for pause for us, not the green light to wave the thing through without our having done our jobs.