I have a great amount of respect for the Canada Industrial Relations Board, for the chair and for all of the workers there who really work very hard to ensure that workers and employers get fair treatment when it comes to issues of dispute or whatever the issue of the day might be.
We need to make sure that board is properly resourced, that training and recruitment can happen and that we have long-term staff who are very well trained and have years of experience. These are difficult and challenging situations in which to try to intervene as a mediator or as a conciliation officer in a dispute, so you need to have the trust and respect of the parties. That means having a decades-long ability to understand the nuances that happen at the bargaining table and where the pressure is coming from for both the employer and the employee group, and being able to actually provide that assistance to those groups.
Making sure we have the resources at the Canada Industrial Relations Board is critically important so they can do the hard work that we as a society are all relying on.