The Senate resolved into a Committee of the Whole in order to study the subject matter of Bill C-39, An Act respecting certain measures to strengthen the economy.
Senator Henkel: Good afternoon, ministers. Thank you for being with us.
My first question is for Minister MacKinnon.
Minister, Bill C-39 aims to reduce red tape and allow businesses to make greater use of electronic trade documents. You’ve indicated that paperless trade could reduce business costs by up to 4.2%.
SMEs account for nearly three-quarters of Canadian businesses that export goods. I’m not even talking about the ones that want to do so.
How will you measure whether these savings and simplifications will benefit SMEs, and not just large companies that already have all the necessary resources?
Mr. MacKinnon: I’m glad that you mentioned that passage of the bill.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Canada could boast about being a leader when it came to international trade and the way approvals were organized, or in other words, the ecosystem that existed between port authorities, the Canada Revenue Agency, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Department of Immigration and others. Today, we are, unfortunately, lagging far behind. There’s no reason for that other than some laws that are preventing us from protecting or that are preventing a culture of data sharing between agencies, port authorities and other links in the supply chain.
Your question had to do with costs and SMEs. In my opinion, SMEs have a lot to gain from these measures, and I’ll tell you why. Obviously, this should make things more convenient and efficient for the entire ecosystem. However, for an SME that wants to export, I believe that the paperwork, procedures and approvals required, along with the difficulty navigating all of that if they want to even consider exporting their goods or the results of their ingenuity, create too many barriers. I think that big companies are now able to deal with all of that. They simply hire people to deal with it. Now, with these measures, SMEs will be able to consider participating in international trade. We need them to do so.
Senator Henkel: My question is for Minister Hajdu. You can answer me in writing. Currently, the Canada Labour Code guarantees that anyone working for a federally regulated employer can take up to 10 days of paid sick leave per year, which they may take one day at a time. With Bill C-39, this guarantee will no longer apply to unionized employees whose collective agreement provides for a plan that is at least as favourable. What is your intention in referring some workers to their collective agreement rather than the Labour Code?