Canadians go to the polls next Tuesday. So let’s continue our look at where the major political parties in Canada stand on workplace health and safety.

THE NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY (NDP)

The NDP, which is nationally led by Jack Layton, is positioned in the center-left of Canadian politics. Although it has never formed a national government, it has occupied leadership positions in a number of provinces including, currently, Manitoba. The NDP did pretty well in the 2006 national elections, capturing 23 seats, and is vying with the Liberal Party for leadership of the opposition to the Conservative government of Stephen Harper.

The NDP generally supports strong OHS legislation and enforcement. Here are the party’s positions on some key issues:

Food Safety: The NDP has attacked the Harper Government for putting self-governance by the food industry ahead vigorous enforcement of food safety laws. The NDP platform calls for:

• Increasing the number of CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) inspectors and freeing up existing staff so they can spend less time on paperwork and more time in the field;
• Adopting EU style “line speed” quality and safety regulations in meat processing plants;
• Beefing up the system for issuing public warnings of  tainted foods; and
• Requiring labelling of genetically engineered foods and farmed fish.

Accident Reporting: The NDP’s safety guru, Ontario MP Andrea Horwath, has proposed amending the Ontario OHS laws to require employers to report workplace incidents to a provincial Workplace Disease and Accident Registry.

Workers’ Compensation: Horwath and her colleagues in other provinces have led the effort to expand workers’ compensation coverage for firefighters by enacting legislation presuming certain cancers to be work-related when contracted by firefighters who respond to fire emergencies.

Working Alone Protections: The NDP has led provincial initiatives to enact new OHS regulations to protect workers who work alone and in isolation.

Transit Workers: Peter Julian, an NDP MP from British Columbia, has introduced a private member bill that would amend the Criminal Code to provide tougher sentences for those convicted of assaulting public transportation workers in the workplace.

OHS Enforcement: The NDP generally supports nationwide efforts to increase the number of provincial OHS inspectors.

Toxic Chemicals: The NDP was behind the effort to adopt a bill called the Phthalate Control Act in the House of Commons. Phthalate is a chemical found in plastics used in toys and other children’s products that has been linked with harmful health effects to kids.

Note: On Friday, we’ll look at the Liberal Party.

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