Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I do support this amendment, on the principle that I've stated before: that I do want to see a law that bans the use of replacement workers but does not put Canadian citizens in jeopardy or leave them without essential services.
I feel that section 87.4 does not sufficiently protect Canadians from potential harm by that, so to me the inclusion of the words “essential services”, though vague, does provide a whole new element to the bill we're looking at. It means there is a potential that things like telecommunication services would be covered, as--in my view--they should be.
I do have a question for the drafter of the bill, who is my colleague: “exempting the employer, the trade union, and the employees in the bargaining unit from continuing to supply essential services,”--is that a comma? That's a comma, right, and not a period?