Mr. Chairman, if the employer in these kinds of situations who is providing a government service through a contract wants to enter into that kind of arrangement, then, yes, we could. But we have a lot of situations in the past, and we will in the future, where contractors take on responsibilities that the government has been providing; for example, forest firefighting services. We can't, though this, force them to pay their employees at the same rate with the same benefits and so on as we would in government. They're a separate employer. We, of course, would want to advise them that if they do that, they may be doing their employees out of some benefits they would have -- and I think a lot of employees recognize that they lose their pension, they lose other things -- but we can't force an employer to do it.
Joe Handley on Bill 14: An Act To Amend The Public Service Act
In the Legislative Assembly on June 11th, 2003. See this statement in context.
Bill 14: An Act To Amend The Public Service Act
Item 19: Consideration In Committee Of The Whole Of Bills And Other Matters
June 10th, 2003
Page 962
See context to find out what was said next.