Canadian Labour Reporter

Legislation constitutionally flawed: Lawyer "The whole purpose of the bill is to allow the public to gauge the health and effectiveness of these institutions," he said. "In light of the fact that we provide national benefits to them, in the form of tax deductibility — unions oper- ate tax-free — so I'm optimistic that with these disclosures… we will hopefully build confidence." But Bill C-377 has raised the ire of organized labour and has unions denouncing the legisla- tion as a union-busting attack. According to the Canadian La- bour Congress (CLC), the move was another attack on the labour movement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives. Hassan Yussuff, president of the CLC, said C-377 has little to do with transparency and more to do with weakening labour, call- ing Hiebert's argument "phony." "At the end of the day, are we displeased? Yes," Yussuff said, adding that the bill will result in more red tape and divert time and resources to produce ex- pense reports. "Fundamentally, we believe our members are entitled to fi- nancial information from their union — but that's our members who are entitled to that informa- tion. If you do not belong to our organization, it's none of your business, to be honest with you," he said. Unions, like business or cor- porations, should be treated as democratic, private entities that are only accountable to members, he said. "Are the enemies of the labour movement entitled to have infor- mation about the labour move- ment, so that information can be used to bring harm and try to weaken the labour movement? We don't believe so," Yussuff said. But Hiebert denied any pur- ported attack on labour. Instead, he maintained the changes will provide the same transparency Canadians have grown accustomed to for First Nations, Crown corporations and charities. Because the new rules were modelled after U.S. law, any changes should be well-received, Hiebert said. Unions south of the border must report similar financial information to the U.S. Department of Labor, and that in- cludes Canadian or international unions that are affiliated with American unions or companies. "It's disingenuous for (unions) to suggest that this is an attack, when they've been living with this disclosure for a very long time in the United States," Hiebert said. "If it's such a problem, then why are they not fighting the U.S. Department of Labor?... Now, all unions will have to disclose this information — but to a Canadian authority." Constitutional challenge The road leading up to the some- what hurried passage of Bill C-377 could have something to do with its constitutional viabil- ity, something that raised the eye- brows of certain senators during the debate. From a legal perspective, the legislation is unconstitutional on two levels, according to Paul Cavalluzzo, a labour lawyer in Toronto who denounced the bill when he addressed the Senate earlier this spring. He said the constitutional chal- lenge is two-fold. First, the bill could be tested against freedom of association rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As well, it raises concerns over division of powers with the prov- inces. "It is clearly unconstitutional as far as provincial unions are concerned, because the legisla- tion essentially deals with the regulation of trade unions, and under our constitution system, labour relations, generally speak- ing, falls within provincial juris- diction," Cavalluzzo said in an interview. That C-377 was passed via unorthodox methods is further muddling the matter. The Tories used their majority to overrule the Senate speaker — who had ruled against the government's motion to forego the debate — and force a final vote. "There's no question it's a po- litical attack on unions — and why the government had it passed illegally, contrary to Sen- ate rules, is because it wanted to have it on its election plan," Ca- valluzzo said. "It has absolutely no substance to it." Yussuff said C-377 will have to stand on many fronts, and con- firmed the CLC intends to legally challenge the legislation. 7 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2015 CANADIAN LABOUR REPORTER news < from pg. 1 Canadian unions will have to publicly disclose how they spend their money under new legislation passed by the federal government and Senate. Photo: Mark Blinch (Reuters)

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