Bill C-27 · 41th Parliament · Stephen Harper
Veterans Hiring Act
An Act to amend the Public Service Employment Act (enhancing hiring opportunities for certain serving and former members of the Canadian Forces)
Government bill. Became law.
- IntroducedMarch 4, 2014
- Debated in principleJune 3, 2014
- Studied by a committeeDone
- Passed its first chamberNov. 25, 2014
- Passed the second chamberMarch 24, 2015
- Became lawMarch 30, 2015
Leading supporters
Ranked by the part each played: who is responsible for the bill, who carried it, and who spoke for it most.
- Stephen HarperPrime Minister
Who carries this bill
Arrows run from the person responsible to those who answer to them on this bill. The critic leads the Senate’s scrutiny and answers to no one on it.
What it set out to do
On 4 March 2014, the Minister of Veterans Affairs introduced Bill C-27, An Act to amend the Public Service Employment Act (enhancing hiring opportunities for certain serving and former members of the Canadian Forces) (Veterans Hiring Act), in the House of Commons and it was given first reading. Bill C-27 amends the Public Service Employment Act to provide increased access to hiring opportunities in the public service for certain serving and former members of the Canadian Forces and to establish a right of appointment, in priority to all other persons, for certain members of the Canadian Forces who are released for medical reasons that are attributable to service. There are two levels of priority status—statutory and regulatory priorities. Individuals with a statutory priority need to be considered before persons with a regulatory priority status. There are currently three groups with a statutory priority status in this order of precedence: employees who have been declared surplus by their own organization; employees on leave of absence; and public servants who have been laid off. Once those in the statutory priority category have been considered, those who have a regulatory priorit…
Summary by the Library of Parliament.
Where members stand
Votes and debate for this bill have not been read yet.
How it changed on the way
69% of the text as introduced was changed or removed by the time it became law (2,432 words introduced, 1,952 passed). A committee amended it.
substantial changeintent mostly kept
The bill kept its core purpose of giving priority hiring to veterans but added that the Minister of Veterans Affairs must determine if medical releases are service-related. It also updated references and coordinating amendments for the final statute.
- Changed who decides if a medical release is attributable to service.
Before: “who was released from the Canadian Forces for medical reasons that are attributable to service”
After: “who was released from the Canadian Forces for medical reasons that the Minister of Veterans Affairs determines are attributable to service”
- Updated the summary to match the new decision-maker language.
Before: “for certain members of the Canadian Forces who are released for medical reasons that are attributable to service”
After: “for certain members of the Canadian Forces who are released for medical reasons that the Minister of Veterans Affairs determines are attributable to service”
How precisely it is written
mostly preciseChallenging the law: HardDisputing a charge: Moderate
The bill sets fixed service lengths, time windows and statutory priority orders with cross-references to exact sections. It still leaves several key decisions to ministerial or Commission judgment without objective criteria.
Open to argument
“medical reasons that the Minister of Veterans Affairs determines are attributable to service”
Subjective ministerial determination replaces any statutory test for causation.“in the Commission's opinion, meet the essential qualifications”
Opinion-based standard rather than fixed, verifiable criteria.
Clear-cut
“has accumulated at least three years of service”
Numeric threshold that can be verified from records.“during a period of five years after their date of release”
Fixed calendar period tied to a documented event.“priority for appointment over all other persons is to be given, during the period determined by the Commission”
Clear statutory ranking even though the exact length is later set by regulation.
Discretion. The Commission may set the priority period, eligible classes and required qualifications, while the Minister alone decides whether a release is service-attributable.
Challenging the law itself. The provisions confer employment preferences rather than impose criminal or regulatory prohibitions, so vagueness or overbreadth claims under s. 7 or s. 15 of the Charter face a high threshold.
Disputing a charge under it. A person denied priority could argue the Minister’s attribution finding or the Commission’s opinion lacks an evidentiary basis, but the statutory text supplies no further standard to litigate.
Read by a language model from the royal assent text; every quoted phrase appears in the bill. A reading of the drafting, not legal advice.
Did it work?
partly effective
The 2020 joint evaluation by the Public Service Commission of Canada and Veterans Affairs Canada found that the Veterans Hiring Act provisions led to 1,667 appointments (799 priority, 359 preference, 509 mobility) from July 2015 to March 2019, with increasing applications and use outside the National Capital Region, but identified barriers including low awareness among hiring managers, concentration of hires in a few departments (DND ~60%), and lack of performance goals or systematic tracking. No parliamentary reviews, Auditor General reports, court rulings, or peer-reviewed studies were identified assessing overall achievement of statutory priority hiring goals.
- Joint Evaluation of the Implementation of the Veterans Hiring ActevaluationBetween July 2015 and March 2019, 799 of 1,440 medically released veterans who activated priority entitlements were appointed, provisions were applied in staffing processes, but awareness and support for hiring managers were insufficient and no hiring goals or performance measurement strategy were established.
- Summary of the Joint Evaluation of the Implementation of the Veterans Hiring Actevaluation1,667 appointments were made through the three provisions, with most preference and mobility hires outside the NCR and 20% women; skills of hired veterans were generally utilized, though sustained efforts were needed to support implementation.
Who lobbied on it
No lobbying registration naming this bill is loaded.
Stages and dates from LEGISinfo.