CUPE @ Your Service

Bill C-377: Write Your MP!

WRITE MP BRIAN JEAN:

In February, 2012, MP Russ Hiebert, Conservative member for South Surrey-Whie Rock-Cloverdale in British Columbia, introduced Bill C-377, entitled 'An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act (Labour Organizations'.

The Canadian Labour Congress, which is the national voice of 3.3 million workers in Canada has raised the following issues and concerns:

1) Bill C-377 creates unnecessary bureaucratic red tape for government, businesses, employee pension and benefit plans and unions. Most provinces and the federal government already have legislation that require unions to make financial reports available to union members automatically or on request.

2) Bill C-377 would be expensive to administer. It will be costly to taxpayers for the federal government to set up and administer, for employee pension and benefit plans and for over 25,000 unions and labour organizations representing over 4 million Canadians. Conservative MPs will have to justify the costly bureaucracy to set up and administer the onerous and unnecessary reporting under this bill at a time when the government is shutting down coast guard stations and cutting budgets for food inspection to save money.

3) Bill C-377 would wrongly intrude on the privacy of individuals, businesses, employers and unions. The violation of the privacy of more than 4 million unionized Canadians clearly invites judicial challenges. Can Conservative MPs defend the government when it collects and publishes the details of a widow's survivor benefits or an employee's counselling treatments?

4) Bill C-377 may be unconstitutional legislation that will violate provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Canadian Bar Association says that Bill C-377 is "problematic from a constitutional and a privacy perspective" and that it has "the potential to invite constitutional challenge and litigation". Why pass legislation that Canada's leading legal experts already believe may be overturned by the courts? 

The executive team of CUPE Local 1505 strongly encourages its members to send the following advisement to MP Brian Jean: 

Dear MP Brian Jean:

Re: Bill C-377

As a member of your constituency, I join with the Canadian Labour Congress and the 3.3 million Canadians it represents in objecting to the spirit and the content of Bill C-377 because it: 

* restricts freedom of association and is contrary to Section 2(d) of the 'Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms';
* contravenes federal and provincial privacy legislation;
* singles out and discriminates against unions compared to other organizations similarly treated in the Income Tax Act;
* intrudes into provincial jurisdiction with respect to the regulation of labour relations and unions;
* will impose significant costs on the government and labour organizations.

As noted by MP Russ Hiebert, the Bill's sponsor, "labour organizations play a valuable role in Canadian society, representing and defending the rights of workers."

This bill is not about accountability; rather, it is about weakening unions by vastly expanding reporting duties.

Respectfully,

_______________________

You can either copy and paste and send this advisement via email to brian.jean@parl.gc.ca, or send it by regular mail (which does not require postage) to: 

Fort McMurray Constituency Office 

Office Hours 8:30 - 5,
Monday-Friday 

102 9912 Franklin Ave 
Fort McMurray, 
Alberta T9H 2K5 

Tel: (780) 743-2201 
Fax: (780) 743-2287 
E-mail: brian.jean.c1@parl.gc.ca 

Athabasca Constituency Office 

Office Hours 8:30 - 5,
Monday-Friday

5101, 50th Avenue 
Athabasca, Alberta 
T9S 1T2 

Tel: (780) 675-8100 
Fax: (780) 675-4017 
Toll Free (Alberta only) 1-877-710-8100
Email: brian.jean.c2@parl.gc.ca

Ottawa Office 

Office Hours 9 - 5, 
Monday-Friday 

635-S, Centre Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Tel: (613) 992-1154 
Fax: (613) 992-4603 
Email: brian.jean@parl.gc.ca