Question Period Note: Bill S-3 and Occupational Health and Safety (Protections for Workers in the Offshore)

Occupational Health and Safety regulations are important for employees in all industries and workplace settings in Canada. Employees in Canada have the right to a safe work environment.
Natural Resources Canada is developing permanent occupational health and safety regulations under the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord Implementation Act and Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act (the Accord Acts). [Redacted] questions may arise as to how workers are protected in the intervening period.

• Our government places the highest priority on health, safety, and environmental protection in all aspects of our natural resource industries.
• Occupational health and safety regulations are important for employees in all industries and workplace settings in Canada, including in our offshore.
• In 2014, the government amended the Accord Acts to clarify the legal framework for offshore occupational health and safety and to establish transitional regulations.
• Since that time, my department has worked diligently with Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia, to develop permanent regulations tailored to the offshore, one of the most remote and dangerous places to work in the country.
• Bill S-3 recently tabled in the Senate seeks two additional years, to December 31, 2022, for the three governments to work together to complete the permanent regulations. We have a detailed plan in place, agreed to by our provincial partners, to complete these complex regulations by then.
If pressed on why the permanent regulations are not already completed:
• These are complex regulations that must be tailored to the dangerous and remote working conditions that are unique to the offshore.
• The Accord Acts also establish a joint-management framework, where Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia are equal partners. All three governments must have the opportunity to vet the regulations through their approval processes.
• Unanticipated events, such as the global pandemic, have also had an impact.
If pressed on why amendments to the Occupational Health and Safety Act are being proposed now:
• The timing of the bill reflects recent delays experienced as a result of COVID-19.
• These amendments provide continuity in the regulatory framework for the transitional regulations automatically repealed on December 31, 2020.
• Clause 3 of the bill ensures that the regulations will be revived retroactive to January 1, 2021. Until then, the transitional regulations will continue to protect workers in the offshore.

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