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Media Contacts

Ministry of Health

Communications
250 952-1887 (media line)

Backgrounders

Timelines of bills 29 and 94
  • In 2002, the Health and Social Services Delivery Improvement Act (Bill 29) was enacted for the purpose of excluding care aides and non-clinical health sector workers from B.C. Labour Code protections.
  • Bill 29 also provided public health-sector employers the right to contract out non-clinical services as defined under the act (i.e. food and housekeeping services; residential health-care aides; facilities, janitorial, maintenance and laundry services staff; food services workers; security staff; and information technology and accounting staff), despite any restrictions on contracting out contained in health sector non-collective agreements.
  • In 2003, the Health Sector Partnerships Agreement Act (Bill 94) was enacted with the intention of facilitating the development and implementation of public-private partnerships (P3s) in the health sector, by providing the same flexibility in contracting out and restructuring for private sector operators in P3s as existed for health authorities under Bill 29.
  • The two bills led to the layoff of more than 8,000 health-care workers.
  • In 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the collective bargaining process was protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that provisions in sections 6 and 9 of Bill 29 constituted a significant interference with the right to bargain collectively and violated section 2(d) of the charter.
  • In 2008, certain provisions in both Bills 29 and 94 were repealed after government was permitted one year to negotiate a settlement aligned with the court’s decision.
  • Other provisions of the statutes remained in force, including those denying workers successorship and common employer protections (section 6 of Bill 29, and section 5 of Bill 94).
  • Bills 29 and 94 continue to deny health-care workers basic rights available to all other workers in B.C. under sections 35 and 38 of the Labour Code.