moved for leave to introduce Bill C-437, An Act to Amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (labour relations).
Mr. Speaker, I assure you that my comments will be very appropriate.
It is my pleasure once again to introduce this bill, An Act to Amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act. I am pleased to have the support of not only my caucus colleagues in the Liberal Party but also more important, our critic in the area of public safety, the member for Ajax—Pickering.
The bill would provide the RCMP with the right to collectively bargain, a right our national police force surprisingly has never had. This bill would also provide the RCMP with a proper and appropriate grievance process, one that would replace the staff relations program, which was struck down by the courts earlier this year.
Hopefully, collective bargaining rights can help protect officers in the RCMP from situations such as the one that occurred earlier this year when the government unilaterally rolled back the RCMP's promised wage increases.
The time to move on this is now. I ask for the support of all members to do just that.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)