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Bill C-502

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First Reading

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	2nd Session, 36th Parliament, 48-49 Elizabeth II, 1999-2000
	The House of Commons of Canada
	BILL C-502
	An Act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (work for welfare)
	Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
R.S., c. F-8; R.S., cc. 22, 39, 44 (1st Supp.), cc. 7, 15, 26, 28 (2nd Supp.), cc. 9, 11, 31 (3rd Supp.), cc. 7, 33, 35, 46 (4th Supp.); 1990, c. 39; 1991, cc. 9, 10, 38, 51; 1992, cc. 1, 10; 1993, cc. 28, 34; 1994, c. 2; 1995, cc. 17, 24, 28, 29; 1996, cc. 8, 11, 18; 1997, c. 10; 1998, cc. 10, 19, 21; 1999, cc. 11, 26, 31	*1. Section 19 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act* is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):**
Work for welfare program	(1.1) In order that a province may qualify for a full cash contribution referred to in section 14 for a fiscal year, the laws of the province must provide for a program that requires persons who receive social assistance to do work assigned to them by the province during every month for which they receive the assistance, subject to such reasonable exceptions as are provided by those laws granting full or partial exemption from the requirement to work on the grounds of
	(a) physical or mental disability;
	(b) pregnancy beyond a stage specified by law;
	(c) an obligation to care for a dependant person on a part-time or full-time basis on the grounds of that other person's age or disability;
	(d) being engaged in a training program established by or pursuant to the laws of the province designed to assist persons to find employment or make them better able to manage their lives; and
	(e) a need to have the opportunity to seek employment.
	2. Section 21 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (1):
Provincial laws not complying	(1.1) Where a referral of a matter under section 20 is made on the grounds that the laws of a province do not or have ceased to comply with subsection 19(1.1), by the beginning of a fiscal year that commences after January 1, 2001, the Governor in Council shall, by order, direct that the cash contribution to the province for a fiscal year be reduced by the amount the province has provided for the payment of social assistance for the fiscal year, or the amount that, in the opinion of the Minister, the province will spend on social assistance for the fiscal year.
Non- compliance in prior fiscal year	(1.2) Where a referral of a matter under section 20 is made on the grounds that a province received a cash contribution without deduction in respect of non-compliance with subsection 19(1.1), in respect of a particular fiscal year that commences after January 1, 2001, but the Minister is of the opinion that the province did not comply with that subsection 19(1.1) for all or a part of that particular fiscal year, the Governor in Council shall, by order, direct that the cash contribution to the province for the following fiscal year be reduced by the amount that, in the opinion of the Minister, the province spent on social assistance for the particular fiscal year, or the part of the year that the province did not comply with subsection 19(1.1), whichever is the case.