The “Wayne Gretzky of labour law” appears before Standing Committee
Steven Barrett appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance today. He was there to make submissions on Bill C-4, A second act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures.
As we describe in this summary and analysis of Bill C-4, the Harper government has decided, without notice or consultation, to include a number of sweeping reforms to federal public service labour laws in the budget bill. These reforms have nothing to do with the 2013 budget. Rather, they are aimed at weakening federal public sector unions and stacking the deck in the Government’s favour whenever it has to deal with them.
Steven made submissions to the Committee on the problems with Bill C-4. These included the fact that the amendments had been introduced without study or consultation contrary to longstanding Parliamentary tradition.
During the question period, NDP MP Murray Rankin had some nice things to say about Steven, including referring to him as “the Wayne Gretzky of labour law”.