QUESTION PERIOD — Employment, Workforce Development and Labour
Job Losses
March 20, 2019
My question is for the Government Leader in the Senate. This is probably a vestige from my union days, but I break out in hives every time I hear your Prime Minister go on and on about working for the middle class. SNC-Lavalin lobbyists enjoyed easy access to Mr. Trudeau’s office, and things got so bad that two ministers, the Prime Minister’s top adviser and friend, and the Clerk of the Privy Council all resigned. The Prime Minister apparently wanted to save 9,000 jobs. Meanwhile, 12,000 Sears employees lost their pension funds when the company went bankrupt. Sears executives pocketed $93 million for their fine work, while pensioners were left high and dry. Your Prime Minister ignored and continues to ignore the 12,000 Sears employees. He even hid a provision in an omnibus bill to save SNC-Lavalin, a company run by corrupt individuals.
Can you explain why the middle-class Sears workers did not deserve the same attention as those at SNC-Lavalin?
I thank the honourable senator for his question. It gives me the opportunity to reinforce the commitment of this government to jobs and job growth no matter where they occur, and to reference the fact that in the last three years of this government, Canadians and their enterprises have created over 900,000 jobs, most of them full time, and that the Canadian unemployment rate is at a 40-year low. Jobs create growth and create the capacity of families to rise in their economic standing in terms of joining or advancing in the middle class. Irrespective of where those jobs are, this government is championing those jobs.
With respect to the concerns raised with regard to pensioners and the consequences of bankruptcy, in this case Sears, the honourable senator will know that the government has taken a number of steps to examine how better to protect the pension rights of those workers who were found in the unenviable position of having their companies go bankrupt and there not being enough money for the integrity of their pension plans. This is a complex issue, as the honourable senator will know. We have had some debate here on former Senator Art Eggleton’s bill, and this is one that the government is seized with and taking action on.
