Although not explicitly tied to Bill C-69, we want to express concern over the absence of new capital funding toward the strategic innovation fund in budget 2024. That's a cornerstone investment vehicle that has served the industrial economy well for many years. Recapitalizing this fund should be considered for 2025.

For Unifor members in the health care sector, we support proposed amendments to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act that will establish a 5% growth guarantee to the Canada health transfer for eligible jurisdictions, marking a long-awaited increase to the transfer payments. Unifor is, however, very disappointed that such requirements do not include efforts to ward off privatization schemes or establish minimum standards for long-term care.

Finally, Bill C-69 proposes various important amendments to the Canada Labour Code. Proposed changes to the code clarify that workers shall be presumed an employee if they are remunerated by an employer. Reassigning the burden of proof to employers when determining employment status is a long-standing demand of our union and an important step for combatting worker misclassification in the federal sector.

Further, the bill introduces a new policy on disconnecting. It's a requirement under the code that follows developments in other jurisdictions, like Ontario. Unifor supports this amendment to the code, but with three specific amendments that we have appended to our submission and can send to you once we get the translation.

Amendment one proposes that Bill C-69 explicitly require the policy to detail how non-working-hour communications will be limited and what opportunities exist for employees to disconnect.

Amendment two removes the proposed exemption for those working non-standard hours. Amendment three requires these changes to come into force one year after Bill C-69 is passed and not over an indeterminate amount of time.

We thank you again for the opportunity to present. We look forward to answering your questions.

Thank you.