Thank you all for being here. It's a very interesting conversation. I think you've brought some very interesting points out, Ms. Benson.
The fact remains—and this is the thing that I struggle with—Mr. Thomas has given us some comparisons of the private and the public sector, and the gap is really widening. I come from private industry. I have a business where we pay professional people and we can't afford to pay them the public sector rate.
I'm reminded of the old song by Joni Mitchell: “Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone”. Mr. Stroud, when I look in the Chatham area and your union, which the CAW joined, I see we have a legacy of plants related to the auto industry that just packed up and left. That's what happens in private industry when you can't pay your employees what the demands are. I think of your legacy funds. I think of those areas that cause concerns and the demise of some of these auto industries.
At what point, Ms. Benson, do you talk to your members and tell them they need to line themselves up with the private sector? When you say that the government is beating up on the union, remember that we represent all citizens, those people who pay taxes, those people who are frustrated with these types of wage earnings when they can't even get close to that. At what point is it your responsibility to talk to your union members and say we need to line up with the private sector?