Thursday, January 18, 2007

Protecting one job while they're doing another

I find it puzzling and somewhat frustrating that this idea is being floated for the Saskatchewan legislature, and not in the House of Commons (ht:sda):

Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall today announced his intention to introduce a private members’ bill in the spring that would protect the civilian employment of Canadian Forces Reserve members who volunteer for military training, for duties in Canada or for deployment overseas.
...
The Canadian Forces Reservist Protection Act would mandate an unpaid leave of absence for employees who find themselves in these circumstances. The process for guaranteeing a job on return from a leave of absence is outlined in Section 80 of the Labour Standards Act.

Right now, there is federal legislation to protect jobs if a reservist is “called up”. However, that legislation does not actually help, since reservists haven’t been called up in Canada for years.


I appreciate Mr. Wall's efforts. But I must ask why the leader of a provincial party - and an opposition leader at that - is out in front of the Prime Minister of Canada and his Minister of National Defence on this issue.

The ball is sitting there, gents. Pick it up and run with it.

3 Comments:

Blogger Paul said...

It may be because this type of legislation which involves employers may be under provincial jurisdiction ... just maybe the feds have no say in this; like healthcare.

11:33 a.m., January 18, 2007  
Blogger Russ Hillis said...

Debris Trail - it depends on the business, some are provincially regulated while others are federally regulated. Therefore, each jurisdiction including the feds will have to enact the legislation.

I think it's more telling that there's a need for it.

12:06 p.m., January 18, 2007  
Blogger Babbling Brooks said...

Since when has stepping into the jurisdiction of the provinces ever been an issue for the federal government? ;)

If the feds took the lead on this, the provinces would follow. Unfortunately, it's a relatively obscure politician in a relatively uninfluential province taking point. How much momentum he can generate remains to be seen.

1:14 p.m., January 18, 2007  

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