On motion of Yves Robillard, it was agreed, — That, pursuant to the Order of Reference of Monday, March 7, 2016, the Committee undertake a study of Bill C-4, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code, the Parliamentary Employment and Staff Relations Act, the Public Service Labour Relations Act and the Income Tax Act, which should include the following:

That four meetings be scheduled for the consideration of the bill, including this meeting;

That this first meeting be devoted to a briefing from the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, and department officials;

That the second and third meetings be devoted to hearing various panels of witnesses;

That the clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill be scheduled for the fourth and last meeting; and that any amendment proposed by members of the Committee be submitted to the Clerk of the Committee no later than 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill;

That each witness meeting consist of two panels of witnesses consisting of up to three witness organizations who shall be selected by the Committee using the regular witness apportionment and selection formula based on House of Commons representation and that members of the Committee submit their witnesses lists to the clerk by no later than 5:00 p.m., Friday, March 25, 2016;

That the study commence immediately following the passing of this motion, as legislative studies take precedence over other activities for the Committee and because the Minister is readily available; and

That the clerk of the Committee be directed to work with the Chair to ensure witnesses are invited and ready for the start date for the study and subsequent meetings as identified by the Chair.

At 3:33 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 3:40 p.m., the sitting resumed in a televised session.

The Minister made a statement and, with Lori Sterling, answered questions.

At 4:49 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 4:52 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Anthony Giles, Chantale Clarke, Costa Dimitrakopoulos and Blaine Langdon made statements and answered questions.

At 5:14 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 5:16 p.m., the sitting resumed in camera.

It was agreed, — That the Committee undertake a study on the Main Estimates 2016-17: Vote 1 under Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Vote 1 under Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety and Vote 1 under Employment and Social Development; and that the committee include this as a topic of study during the appearance of the Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities for the presentation of their mandate letters and current objectives.

That the study take place during the scheduled appearance of the Ministers on April 11, 2016 and that the clerk will communicate this expansion of topics to the Ministers such that they have all necessary time to prepare to answer the committees questions within these two areas.

It was agreed, — That the Committee conduct a study of the Temporary Foreign Workers program;

That the study focus on the current program and ways to improve it;

That the study consist of ten (10) sessions; and

That the Committee conduct the study in concurrence with the Committee's study on Poverty Reduction in the following format: one week of study on poverty reduction followed by one week of study on Temporary Foreign Workers.