There are some things. One thing that did happen is that I believe it was the previous Liberal government that did prohibit union and corporate contributions to political parties, and our members supported that. Most of our members are incorporated and they supported the idea of banning union and corporate contributions.
It's not so much the contributions. It is all the other ways that unions support causes that then help elect political parties. Certainly at the provincial level we see that happening absolutely every day. For example, unions routinely fly their executives to anti-Israel conferences around the world. There are all sorts of ways that causes, perhaps not shared by their members, are supported through mandatory dues.
Again, I've been asked many times, “What about this legislation as it would apply to my organization, as a voluntary membership group?” Certainly if governments ever chose to do that we would certainly comply. The difference is that for a business association or most groups that are out there, the minute somebody is uncomfortable with the views or the spending on my part or my association's part, they can quit the very next day and they can withhold the most valuable vote they have, and that is their money.
In the current legislative environment in Canada we do not allow that to happen. I have to say, the legislation that exists, which Bill C-377 is based on, largely exists today in the United States. Governments, even the current Democrat government, has not eliminated that legislation that exists in the U.S. today, so this isn't brand spanking new stuff.
As I said before, our fundamental issue is that with the power to mandate dues, to force dues through government law, we believe come additional responsibilities. Bill C-377 is only one way to do that. The other would be perhaps to prohibit political causes on the part of unions. That is essentially what's behind the legislation in all of Europe. The main reason unions have voluntary membership in all of Europe is to prevent unions from using mandatory dues for political purposes. That's another way that I suppose Parliament could explore.