C-501’s successful second reading bitter sweet, Rafferty says

An area MP had a disappointing victory on Parliament Hill after a vote on his private member’s bill.

MP John Rafftery (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) wanted to fast-track Bill C-501, a bill that would make severance pay for workers secure when a company files for bankruptcy, to the Senate.

Rafferty thought he had all-party support to have the House vote on division, which means it’s not a counted vote, until last Friday when Conservative MPs pulled support. The bill still passed 164-119 with the help of some Conservative MPs, but Rafferty said that vote has slowed down the process.

"Needless to say I was pretty disappointed about it because there is an urgency to this bill because there could be an election" Rafferty said.

Rafferty’s hoping he can get the bill to third reading before an election is called. If an election is called though, Rafferty said he thinks retirement security is going to be one of the most important issues in the campaign.

"All the MPs understand the unfairness now and they all say we need to do something," said Rafferty. "The secret is to find something that everyone can agree with."

MP Greg Rickford (Con., Kenora) was one of the 119 parliament members who voted against Bill C-501 during its second reading. Rickford has also been one of several MPs who have consistently voted against Rafferty’s private member’s bill.

While the MP says he opposes many of the details within C-501, he isn’t against the idea of protecting the severance and pension packages for working Canadian.

"I can appreciate some of the sprit that John was going after, but (the bill) never addressed what it was supposed to," Rickford said. "Bill C-501 could have never protected Nortel or Abitibi workers because it couldn’t work retroactively."

Rickford said he believes clauses in the bill place unnecessary penalties on small businesses, while protecting the lucrative severance packages for executives.

"It’s protecting severance packages for the richest Canadians," he said. "It doesn’t protect workers."