I'm pleased to have the opportunity to answer a question.
I'm a plant worker. I've worked in plants in Sept-Îles, on the North Shore, in Quebec, for 15 years. For as long as I've worked, the Quebec Labour Code has prohibited replacement workers. I've taken part in strikes, and the employer opposite us was an equally strong negotiator. When we went on strike, there were no replacement workers. That disciplined the parties, and forced them to sit down and negotiate in good faith.
I'll cite another example. On the North Shore, in Sept-Îles, the Iron Ore Company of Canada and the Quebec Northshore and Labrador Railway, a federally-regulated iron ore company, imposed a lockout in February 1994 to force workers to accept the company's conditions. The business hired replacement workers during the lockout. Helicopters flew over the workers during the night to bring in replacement workers. Bodyguards monitored the workers on the picket line. The result of all that was violence, dismissals and all kinds of violent measures. We focused all our energies on resolving all those situations rather than settling the collective agreement. For all cases under provincial regulation, replacement workers are prohibited because we don't want those kinds of situations. The parties are generally disciplined, and they know how to enter into collective agreements.
You have proof of that in Quebec. There is no revolution. I'm not telling you that business owners were happy when that happened. However, they learned to live with it, and there was no economic disaster or overthrow or revolution. On the contrary, that disciplined both parties and forced them to sit down around a table and to properly enter into a collective agreement.
In Quebec, we sign collective agreements without disputes between 95% and 97% of the time. We must have done something right. Before we had the law in Quebec, there were replacement workers in the 1970s. The people from Murdochville lived through the time replacement workers came and took the workers' place in the plants. That divided communities for years. That's what breaks up relationships between human beings. That's what breaks down the economic life of a region.
When a collective agreement is signed where there is a relationship of power in which the parties are equal, this ensures that the parties are disciplined. It isn't a miracle. Come to Quebec and you'll see that this has been successful.