LABOUR LEGISLATION IN CANADA IN 1922 GENERAL SUMMARY Many Acts directly or indircetly affecting labour were passed during the year 1922 by the Parliament of the Dominion and by the Legislatures of the provinces. The Council of the Yukon Territory met in regular session but enacted no measures having special reference to labour. The Legislature of the Province of Quebec held two complete sessions, while the Legislatures of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan continued, and completed early in the year, sessions beginning late in 1921. Special sessions were held in July in Saskatchewan and Alberta for the purpose of enacting concurrent legislation necessary to give effect to the Canadian Wheat Board Act, 1922 (Statutes of Canada, 1922, Chapter 14), no other public measures being passed. The following pages summarize the labour legislation of the past year, the laws of the various provinces or of the Dominion which deal with similar or related subjects being grouped under subject headings. Labour Departments and Bureaus.-A Bureau of Labour was established in Alberta (chapter 80), consisting of a Commissioner of Labour with other officers, who will prepare or collect information and statistics affecting labour, administer such acts as may be assigned to the bureau by Order in Council, and discharge any further duties which may be delegated to him by the Minister of Labour. The Manitoba Act of 1915, establishing a Bureau of Labour attached to the Department of Public Works, was amended (chapter 1) by a provision that the bureau may be transferred to some other department; and in the same province a Department of Public Welfare was created (chapter 2) having a Child Welfare branch. A Bureau of Child Protection was also established in Saskatchewan (chapter 15). A Maritime Fisheries Bureau was created in Quebec (second session), as a branch of the Department of Colonization, Mines and Fisheries, its object being to promote co-operation among fishermen, and otherwise aid the fishing industry. A Provincial Bureau of Health also was established in Quebec (chapter 20) to administer the Public Health Act, having control over municipal sanitary authorities; and the creation of a Fuel and Foodstuffs Control Bureau to control distribution in times of scarcity was authorized at the second session. In connection with the Employment Service in British Columbia (chapter 71) the section of the existing Act, whereby particular classes of persons may be permitted by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council to operate employment offices for gain, was annulled. A Bureau of Publications was established in Saskatchewan (chapter 14) to take charge of public libraries, lend books to clubs on the system known as the "open shelf," and prepare moving pictures to illustrate government work and for educational purposes, etc. Workmen's Compensation.-Important amendments were made in the Workmen's Compensation Acts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario,. and British Columbia. The Dominion Parliament (chapter 6) authorized the Governor in Council to issue regulations providing for the payment of compensation for accidents to civilian airmen and others connected with flights undertaken in the public service, and regulations accordingly were issued later in the year. The Minister of Soldiers' Civil Re-establishment was authorized (chapter 45) to make regulations respecting the payment of compensation for industrial accidents to ex-soldiers, and for the return to Workmen's Compensation Boards of premiums paid by employers of ex-members of the forces. The Quebec Legislature at its second session authorized the creation of a commission "to inquire into labour conditions in the province with specialreference to workmen's compensation," this commission to be composed of five members chosen by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council, two representing labour, two the employers, and a representative of the Government acting as chairman. At the same session (chapter 68) the maximum amount of capitalized allowance for compensation to an injured workman or his dependents was raised from $2,500 to $3,000. In Nova Scotia (chapter 26) the Board was authorized to extend the existing limits of one year for making applications, and of fifteen months for establishing claims, in cases where disability is not apparent within one year of the date of the accident. The board may also withhold payments from workmen who they think are not likely to use the money for the benefit of their dependents. Action may be brought against the executors of a deceased employer in cases of default in assessments. Farm labourers and domestic or menial servants may be admitted to the benefits under the Act on the application of an employer and on conditions imposed by the board. Benefits under the New Brunswick Act were extended (chapter 10) to workmen who are paid in the province, but whose work is partly performed in an adjoining province or country. Further provision was made for orphans who are the sole surviving dependents of a workman. Ontario (chapter 56) provided for the making of reciprocal arrangements with other provinces in regard to the family of a railway man employed in Ontario and meeting an accident in the province, when such family is in consequence of the employee's duties obliged to reside temporarily outside the province. The scale of allowance to surviving orphans was also raised in the event of the death of the other parent. In British Columbia (chapter 86) office and clerical workers, formerly excluded as not being exposed to industrial hazards, and farm labourers, were made admissible to the benefits of the Act; the list of industrial diseases compensable under the Act was enlarged to include sulphur poisoning contracted in coal mines; the burial allowance was raised from $75 to $100; the percentage of average earnings allowed as compensation in cases of permanent total disability, and the percentage of difference between former and present wages in permanent partial disability cases, were both increased from 55 to 621⁄2 per cent. Several changes were made in regard to the provision of medical aid; private systems, where approved, were permitted to continue but employers were made responsible to the board for the proper use of the amounts deducted from wages for the maintenance of such systems. The board was also given power to supervise or directly control existing systems of medical aid. The authority of the board was also extended or confirmed in other ways. Where an accident is attributable to an employer's failure to observe regulations made by the board, the board may require the employer to pay, as a contribution to the Accident Fund, a sum not exceeding half the amount payable in compensation and in any case not exceeding $300. Debts to the board were declared to have priority over all other claims excepting only liens for wages, and the decisions of the board were declared final and conclusive and not open to question or review in any court. Another amendment, similar to the provision in Nova Scotia above mentioned, authorized the board to withhold payment of compensation to any person who is judged to be living an immoral or improper life, or is likely to use the money in gambling or otherwise than for the benefit of his dependents, and to pay the amount to the dependents instead. During the year the British Columbia Board amended the First Aid Regulations by requiring employers to provide facilities for transporting injured workers to hospital, and that a first aid kit be maintained for the use of each group of less than ten men employed on railways, logging railways, or tramways. Arbitration and Conciliation.-No party to and dispute which has been referred for settlement to a council of arbitration under the Municipal Strikes and Lockouts Acts of Quebec, may be represented by a paid agent (second) session, chapter 40), and the amount of the fine to which employers causing a lockout are liable was raised from $100 to $200 per day. Among several other measures which were struck off the statute books of British Columbia the Labour and Conciliation Act (Revised Statutes 1911, chapter 123) was declared obsolete and no longer in force (chapter 71). Minimum Wages.-Alberta enacted a Minimum Wage Act during the year (chapter 81), being the seventh province of the Dominion to enact minimum wage legislation. The Nova Scotia Minimum Wage for Women Act (1920, chapter 11) and the Quebec Women's Minimum Wage Act (1919, chapter 11), however, have not yet taken effect. The wages and hours of work of women and young persons in industries coming under the Alberta Factories Act had since 1920 been subject to "investigation and determination" by an advisory committee appointed under the provisions of that Act, but by an amendment of 1921 the power to "determine" wages was withdrawn from this committee. The new Act supersedes the "advisory committee by," a board constituted on similar lines to the boards of Manitoba, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario. The first orders of the new board were published early in 1923, these orders relating to female labour in the following occupations: manufacturing, laundries, dyeing and cleaning, hotels and restaurants, etc., personal service, offices and shops, stores and mail order houses. The Ontario Minimum Wage Act was amended (chapter 91) to enable the board to fix the maximum number of working hours per week, as well as the minimum wages, of female employees; rates of wages for time worked in excess of the established maximum may also be fixed by the board. New orders were issued by the board during the year, the series of orders begun in 1921, to govern industrial establishments, being completed; the other orders covered the needle trades, retail stores and telephone operators; tentative scales were also fixed for the textile industries, drugs, toilet articles and cereal industries, and for the sorting and packing of tea. In Saskatchewan (chapter 72) the authority of the Minimum Wage Board in regard to the fixing of reasonable hours and proper sanitary conditions was made subject to the provisions of the Public Health Act as well as to those of the Factories Act, as already provided. The existing order governing employment in hotels and restaurants in the same province was amended by special regulations in regard to workers employed seven days in the week. The British Columbia Board reissued during the year the order, first issued in February, 1920, governing the fruit and vegetable industry. The weekly minimum remains as before, but in the new order piece-work rates are so arranged that the average wages earned during any week by an experienced piece-worker shall be not less than the amount of the minimum weekly rate fixed by the order for workers engaged by time. Limits are also set for the duration of emergency work of the kind for which an extension of working hours is permitted. Regulation of Factories, Shops, Boilers, etc.-Amendments were made in the Steam Boiler Acts of Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and in British |