Thank you.
In June 2011, CUPW workers ran rotating strikes as part of a labour action. Less than two weeks later, Canada Post locked out CUPW workers and the Harper government passed back-to-work legislation. This, as the courts described, was very heavy-handed legislation that mandated a wage increase, mandated the kind of offer the arbitrator must receive, and mandated the terms of the contract. It was quite prescriptive in the way it outlined how the process would proceed.
In contrast, in the current environment we have been assisting the parties for over a year in this labour dispute, and Canada Post never locked them out. We didn't run to legislate quickly; we waited as long as we thought we possibly could.
Also, the legislation itself is as opposite as you could possibly get from the legislation of 2011. It did not dictate any terms for the contract. It set out a process whereby we would once again try mediation, move to arbitration, and give the arbitrator absolute discretion to determine the process and the way that arbitration would go down—not move to single-offer arbitration.
In addition, the parties have the opportunity to submit names for the mediator, and the Minister of Labour would go to the chair of the Canadian Industrial Relations Board if there weren't one upon which the parties could agree.
It was very much laying out a process instead of dictating terms.