Labour minister says pandemic highlights need to settle on right-to-disconnect rules
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Labour Minister Filomena Tassi responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons Thursday December 3, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
OTTAWA – The federal labour minister says the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need to give workers the ability to avoid work emails and text messages as the lines between home and work lives blur.
The idea, known as the right to disconnect, first came up as a proposed addition to the federal labour code almost three years ago.
Governments in Canada and overseas have taken a closer look at the right-to-disconnect concept after France adopted a law in 2016 giving workers the right to turn off their electronic work devices outside of business hours over worries that employees were doing unpaid overtime, or being driven to burnout.
Stephanie Levitz
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period in the House of Commons Thursday December 3, 2020 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld February 10, 2021 - 12:58 PM
OTTAWA - Conservative Leader Erin O Toole scripted more of his party s electoral strategy Wednesday, creating new critic portfolios to signal where his focus will be when Canadians go to the polls: a plan for economic recovery.
His move to shuffle his front benches included punting longtime Tory finance critic Pierre Poilievre out of the marquee role and replacing him with B.C. MP Ed Fast.
Poilievre will still be tasked with an economic portfolio â he s been named the so-called shadow minister for jobs and industry â a new post that is one of several that don t explicitly line up in name with actual cabinet positions in the Liberal government.