I just wanted to add to this debate that the Public Service Staff Relations Board does not have the authority to give out compensation for pain and suffering. You're talking about the authority of the board versus the new authority of the tribunal. What we're saying is the board has the experience of the labour world, so why not confer to them the authority to deal with reprisals and with awarding moneys for pain and suffering, and why not use the expertise and the knowledge of the people who are at the board currently? While these new judges have a lot of legal expertise, they do not have a lot of labour relations background and knowledge of how things actually occur on a day-to-day basis in the work lives of our members.
On May 16th, 2006. See this statement in context.