Mr.
Speaker, as a
government, when we set direction in a number of areas, we have our Justice department sit with us and give us advice on a daily basis when we look at decisions.
Did we go out and seek a special opinion? No, we did not in this case. We sat down with union representatives. They informed us that if employees are to be affected, the earlier the notification the better. So in fact we’ve met the criteria that are in place and extended it, in fact, by going out early on.
In discussions with the union and with Members, they’re saying that if there are to be potentially affected employees, give those potentially affected employees early notification as much as possible. We’ve gone down that path, and now we’re dealing with some of the fallout because it’s a different practice that’s been put in place.
The other piece of that is the fact that as we continue to go down this path, we have to review: is this a way of doing it, or was the traditional way the better way of doing it — that is, sticking to the 21 weeks’ notification?