Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women was part of the Canadian delegation attending the Vibrant Gujarat bilateral summit last week in India. “In the coming weeks my officials with the Labour Program will be working with their counterparts in India to deliver on this commitment. This represents a huge step forward in labour cooperation between our two countries,” she said.
Describing her trip to the summit as successful, the Minister said she met with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and highlighted the strong ties between the two countries. She led the Canada country seminar drawing attention to the business-friendly environment in Canada.
“Canada has the lowest business taxes in the G7 and this creates a favourable climate for foreign investment. We also heard from Mr. Harsh Dhingra, the Director of Operations in India for Canadian transportation and aerospace firm Bombardier. He spoke of the fantastic investments that Canadian companies like Bombardier, are making in India and how this type of mutual cooperation is beneficial to both economies” she said.
Elaborating on a Canadian-funded project focusing on reducing vulnerabilities and promoting decent work, and the overall labour situation in India and in the South Asian region, Minister Leitch said, “In March 2011, the Canadian Labour Program provided a $600,000 grant to fund the International Labour Organization’s “Reducing vulnerability to bondage in India through promotion of decent work” project. The project aimed to reduce household vulnerability to bondage by enhancing opportunities for decent work and improved living conditions.
The project ended in 2013 and adopted a comprehensive and integrated approach to addressing the root causes of bonded labour in India. As a direct result of Canada’s funding of this project, the Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment established a Task Force on Migrant Workers to look at the challenges and issues identified by the study and to help improve conditions for workers across India.”
Minister Leitch also met with recent Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, discussing with him ways to end child slavery and labour. “Mr. Satyarthi and I committed to an on-going dialogue on this important issue and I look forward to working with him and his organization going forward” she said.
