Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I find it a little regrettable that we are using the presence of the cameras to huff and puff and give the false impression that the government is not listening to our union friends. National unions have worked very hard for workers' rights, and more specifically for women's rights in terms of pay equity.
Mr. Chair, let us recall all the testimony this committee heard. Everyone applauded the work that the government has done to introduce this bill, which is finally going to guarantee that pay equity.
Ms. Malcolmson seems to want to give the impression that my colleagues and I on this side of the table are not listening to people, but she seems to be forgetting a number of facts. It was only possible for this bill to be drafted because of the consultations that our officials and our government had with union leaders and with those covered by the provisions of the bill before us.
We are now in the process of considering some of the provisions in the bill to see whether we should amend the provisions and thereby improve the bill. People of good will can disagree, you know. That's the situation we find ourselves in here.
I now go back to the task at hand and to the two proposals made by the NDP, more specifically amendment NDP-32, which I am going to vote against. The only reason why the proposal in this amendment is not part of the provisions of the bill is in order to allow good-faith negotiations without imposing too formal a process. The intent is to encourage parties to work together to resolve any disagreements coming from a pay equity committee. If no solution can be found, the next stage is to file a notice of dispute to the pay equity commissioner so that the problem can be solved. Personally, I believe that it is always better to encourage discussions rather than to impose too rigid a system.
I would also like to reassure my NDP colleague about her second amendment. Although the bill deals separately with employees' complaints and bargaining agents' complaints, nothing prevents a bargaining agent from supporting employees in their complaint process. It is perfectly possible. I don't think that my colleague's reasoning holds water. But, as I said, people of good will can disagree.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.