STANDING COMMITTEE ON THEÂ LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
COMITÉ PERMANENT DE L'ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE
Wednesday 29 April 2009 Mercredi 29 avril 2009
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The committee met at 1307 in room 228.
EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS
AMENDMENT ACT
(ORGAN DONOR LEAVE), 2009
LOI DE 2009 MODIFIANT LA LOI
SUR LES NORMES D'EMPLOI
(CONGÉ POUR DON D'ORGANE)
Consideration of Bill 154, An Act to amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 in respect of organ donor leave / Projet de loi 154, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2000 sur les normes d'emploi en ce qui concerne le congé pour don d'organe.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): We'll call the meeting to order of the Standing Committee on the Legislative Assembly. We're here on Bill 154, An Act to amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000, in respect of organ donor leave, clause-by-clause consideration. Are there any comments?
Mr. Norm Miller: Certainly the opposition supports this bill. I note there are no amendments. All the presenters were supportive of the bill, which will make a small difference, I guess, in the live donors who might be encouraged to consider organ donation.
I can't help but think there's a lot more that the government can be doing. I certainly would encourage the government to make further efforts to increase organ donation in the province of Ontario. I noted one of our presenters pointed out that the rate for people who had passed away who were giving donations was among the worst in North America, so I think we can do a lot more to encourage organ donation. I do like the idea of something like what Mr. Klees had put forward, where all members of society, when they apply for a health card or for a driver's licence, would have to make a decision–yes, no or undecided—at that point, just to raise awareness about organ donation. I'm sure there are other things that can be done to make people more conscious of organ donation, with the eventual goal of getting a lot more people donating organs and making those waiting lists, which are quite substantial right now, a lot smaller.
I hope the government will continue to do work to try to improve the situation. This bill is one very small step towards improving it, and we will certainly be supporting it.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Thank you. Mr. Kormos?
Mr. Peter Kormos: New Democrats support the legislation as well. It's inoffensive. I'm not sure that it's going to increase the volume of live organ donation, but I concur that it will at least provide the level of comfort that some of those people might desire about not losing their jobs, as we heard from the very impressive young man who gave a piece of his liver to his father. He didn't even think about his job; all he wanted to do was save his father's life.
I enjoy this type of legislation, mostly because it gives me a chance, of course, to get into the pulpit and advocate for presumed consent. On third reading, I'll be using my full hour once again. Frank Markel from the Trillium Foundation, who disagrees with me on the issue of presumed consent, acknowledges that nonetheless, he enjoys it when I do rant about it because it increases the number of phone calls that the Trillium Foundation gets as well. It's an interesting trilogy that we have here between Klees, one or two of the Liberal backbenchers and Kormos, because we all have different approaches to the organ donation issue but we all enjoy, as I say, taking to the pulpit and advocating it. I'll use my line once again: We should all go out and get tattoos, a dotted line up our belly and a little note that says, "Upon death, open here."
I would encourage the Chair, if people agree, to deal with sections 1 through 5 of this bill together.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Thank you. On the government side, Mr. Delaney.
Mr. Bob Delaney: This bill is about leave to make an organ donation, and with that said, the government is ready to proceed.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Shall I take all the vote on sections 1 to 5 together? Agreed.
Shall sections 1 to 5 carry? Carried.
Shall the title of the bill carry? Carried.
Shall I report the bill to the House? Agreed.
Shall the bill carry? Carried.
COMMITTEE BUSINESS
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Okay, I have one other order of business before we all leave. You should all have received a copy of the Ombudsman's latest report regarding an investigation into the city of Oshawa's apparent failure to co-operate.
Mr. Peter Kormos: I did get that. What the hell's going on in Vaughan? Is there anybody in Vaughan who isn't going to be charged with a criminal offence?
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): I don't know—
Mr. Peter Kormos: I realize that's not Oshawa, but I just wanted to raise it. What the hell's going on in Vaughan?
Interjections.
Mr. Peter Kormos: Rife with corruption. It's full of corruption.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): That's for a different day, my friend. My question to the committee is, as the Ombudsman reports to this committee, would you like us to have him here on this report, or would we just waive the process as we've done?
Mr. Peter Kormos: With respect, Chair, could that question be deferred to the next meeting of this committee? I've got the report. I saw it; I haven't read it.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): I don't believe there's any rush, but let me just make sure.
The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Tonia Grannum): No, that's fine.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): No, we could deal with it at the next meeting.
Mr. Norm Miller: Chair, I agree. I haven't read the report yet, so I'd like an opportunity to read it.
The Chair (Mr. Bas Balkissoon): Okay. We'll give you a chance to read it, and we'll defer the decision on what we do with the report to the next time the committee meets.
Thank you all very much. The committee is adjourned.
The committee adjourned at 1313.
CONTENTS
Wednesday 29 April 2009
Employment Standards Amendment Act (Organ Donor Leave), 2009, Bill 154, Mr. Fonseca /
Loi de 2009 modifiant la Loi sur les normes d'emploi (congé pour don d'organe),
projet de loi 154, M. Fonseca M-197
STANDING COMMITTEE ON THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
Chair / Président
Mr. Bas Balkissoon (Scarborough—Rouge River L)
Vice-Chair / Vice-Président
Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn (Oakville L)
Mrs. Laura Albanese (York South—Weston / York-Sud—Weston L)
Mr. Bas Balkissoon (Scarborough—Rouge River L)
Mr. Bob Delaney (Mississauga—Streetsville L)
Mr. Joe Dickson (Ajax—Pickering L)
Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn (Oakville L)
Ms. Sylvia Jones (Dufferin—Caledon PC)
Mr. Norm Miller (Parry Sound—Muskoka PC)
Mr. Mario Sergio (York West / York-Ouest L)
Mr. Peter Tabuns (Toronto—Danforth ND)
Substitutions / Membres remplaçants
Ms. Sophia Aggelonitis (Hamilton Mountain L)
Mr. Peter Kormos (Welland ND)
Mr. Shafiq Qaadri (Etobicoke North / Etobicoke-Nord L)
Clerk / Greffière
Ms. Tonia Grannum
Staff / Personnel
Ms. Cornelia Schuh, legislative counsel