BQ Recommendation 1:

That the federal government respect provincial areas of jurisdiction when implementing this Committee’s recommendations. In federal areas of jurisdiction, federal institutions should show openness to provincial concerns and to take into account Quebec’s values, interests and identity.

BQ Recommendation 2:

That the federal government reverse its decision to progressively raise the threshold for automatic review of foreign takeovers to $1 billion and restore the threshold to $300 million, the level it was at before the Conservatives, with the Liberals’ support, amended the legislation.

That the federal government, in determining the value of a business for purposes of applying the Investment Canada Act, take the market price valuation into account.  Currently, it is the company’s book value that is taken into account.

BQ Recommendation 3:

That the federal government provide for the taking of pension plans under its trusteeship, as is done in Quebec pursuant to the Supplemental Pension Plans Act, to prevent pension funds’ being liquidated when share prices are low.

BQ Recommendation 4:

In the case of pension plans that seek the protection of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Committee calls upon the government to confer on pensioners with disabilities the status of preferred creditors.  Among other things, the government should:

• require all self-insurance plans under federal jurisdiction to make it clear to their members the nature of the plan;
• study the feasibility of greater government regulation of self-insurance plans, to better protect members of such plans.

BQ Recommendation 5:

Given that the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP) is limited to wages owed in the six months prior to bankruptcy, to a maximum of $3000, that the federal government abolish this six-month cut-off, since there is already a $3000 limit on claims protected by the WEPP.  The abolition should be retroactive to the date the legislation introducing the WEPP came into force.

That the federal government investigate the possibility of raising the corporate veil in the case of wages left unpaid by the subsidiary of a financially healthy parent corporation.

BQ Recommendation 6:

That the federal government provide compensation to retirees who because of their former employer’s bankruptcy have seen their retirement pensions cut, in the form of a tax credit equivalent to 22% of the loss they have suffered.

BQ Recommendation 7:

That the federal government recognize that, while the poverty rate for seniors has fallen in Canada over the past 20 years, 1.6 million seniors are nevertheless receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement.  Too many of them live below the poverty line.

BQ Recommendation 8:

That the government bolster the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) as follows:

• increase monthly GIS payments to seniors by $110 per month;
• extend payments of the Old-Age Pension and the GIS to the spouse or common-law partner of a deceased beneficiary for six months after the latter’s death;
• automatically enrol people entitled to GIS when they turn 65;
• make full GIS back payments to seniors who did not receive it even though they were entitled to it;
• adjust the Spouse’s Allowance so that it is equal to the GIS.