(Return tabled) Question No. 227 Mr. Rodger Cuzner: With respect to the last hiring process that took place for the position of Director General, Regional Operations for Prince Edward Island (PEI) (Mr. Kevin MacAdam) at the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA): (a) when was the job position posted; (b) where was the position posted (i.e., website, newspapers, etc.); (c) for how long was the position posted in each medium; (d) was it an external or internal posting; (e) what information appeared in each posting medium; (f) who specifically developed and approved the job posting qualifications; (g) was this a newly created position, and, if not, what information appeared on the posting for the previous ...[+++]compeition for the position (i.e., that of Mr. MacAdam's predecessor); (h) what was the job description for this position prior to the last hiring process; (i) what is the current job description, if it is different from the description in (h); (j) what is the pay scale for this position; (k) has the pay scale for this position changed with the new hiring of Mr. MacAdam; (l) what were the French-language requirements (i.e., levels of proficiency A, B, or C) for this job when it was originally posted; (m) have the French-language requirements (i.e., levels of proficiency A, B, or C) changed with the latest hiring process for this position; (n) is there a Director General, Regional Operations position in ACOA for each of the other three Atlantic provinces (i.e., New Brunswick (NB), Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), and Nova Scotia (NS)), and, if yes, what is, for each position, (i) the pay scale, (ii) the job description, (iii) the French-language requirements (i.e., levels of proficiency A, B, or C); (o) are there any positions with ACOA for which bilingualism is a requirement to be hired, and, if so, what are they; (p) in the last five years, in how many cases and for which positions have newly hired ACOA employees started their employment by being r ...

I would like to say one thing to you: to vote today in favour of 20 weeks’ fully paid maternity leave is irresponsible and demagogic.

If we vote for this report as it stands, we will waste at least the same amount of time again debating with the Council in codecision, when the Commission’s initial 2008 proposal was reasonable. It guaranteed substantial progress in Member States in which the length of maternity leave and maternity pay are still below that which exists in some countries; rarely are we granted 20 weeks’ leave on full, uncapped pay, paid for by the state.

As a basis, this is entirely possible, but there is a difference between what is possible and the Utopian idea of proposing 20 weeks on full pay; between what is feasible and what one can promise in Parliament, which will not be accepted by either the Council or the national parliaments.

2. Member States may provide that an exemption be made to the principle established in paragraph 1 when temporary workers have a permanent contract of employment with a temporary agency and full pay and social protection are also provided in the time between postings.

Mr. Gordon Kirkby (Prince Albert-Churchill River, Lib.): Mr. Speaker, I note with interest that the leader of the Reform Party is planning to reconsider the advisability of his taking a 10 per cent pay cut.