Thanks, Mr. Chair.
I'm new to this committee, as was pointed out, but also I've been a member of the steelworkers union for a number of years, working in a mine in Flin Flon.
I've been involved in the private sector as well, in different capacities in corporations, and have been on the board of an airport authority. I get both sides of this issue. I hear a lot of discussion and get a lot of correspondence directed my way.
Of course, key—and I don't expect an answer on this one—is the definition of “essential services” and where we're going to go with it, and what happens with airports and others.
The second issue is of course the impact on economically marginalized areas of the country. There are pros and cons to this.
But even if I have both pro-union and corporate experience, the question is, human nature being what it is, that in using replacement workers, it's implied that the employers use them as a hammer against the striking workers. Mr. Lake asked whether you swing the pendulum the other way by now taking that away and giving the hammer, human nature being what it is, to the unions to use against the employers.
This is a question I get from both sides. In a Saskatchewan context—it's a big union province—you get both sides.
Maybe Mr. Roy could speak to that. I know he's been trying to cut in a few times to interject on some answers. And maybe you could give me your perspective on the answer given earlier.