It's absolutely inexplicable and it really shows a severe lack of respect for the people who do the work. Our strike mandate was 96% in favour with a 70% participation rate. That's about as high and as strong as anyone has ever seen.
Our members are so disappointed. If you had a situation where everyone in this room had a benefit except one person and that one person asked for it year after year for decades and was refused, and was even refused proper consultation or discussion about it, I think we would all agree that person would be understandably furious. That is the situation we are in specifically with the “25 and out”.
Salary is an issue too, though. We're the second-largest law enforcement force in Canada. We enforce more legislation than any other police agency. We're armed and have the same use-of-force requirements, yet we're always told as to pay and benefits that we are somewhat less. It's an unacceptable situation. It has to change.