I think that throughout the history of the federal labour code—for quite some time in any case—we've had a fairly balanced system. It's not perfect. It has some flaws, and we can do much to improve it. The reality is that every time the code has been amended, whether it's Labour Code part 1 or part 2, much care has been taken to ensure that the right balance is found in improving the code, recognizing that being under the code is one of the greatest protections that workers have.
What these two private members' bills did was to tilt the balance in the opposite direction for unjustified reasons. There was never a clearly stated reason as to what the objectives of these bills were, other than by the two authors of these bills who said, “here's the stated goal”. In one case, on Bill C-525, the member said it was because of “a mountain of evidence” of union intimidation of workers wanting to join unions. The CIRB, the authoritative body that came before the committee to testify, said there was no such mountain of evidence.
On Bill C-377, I don't know what they were trying to solve. This legislation was essentially copied from the United States without any regard to our constitutional structures in this country or without being introduced into law. Former Conservative senator Hugh Segal said Bill C- 377 was nothing more than a witch hunt against unions in this country. The members on the government side at that time saw no reason to pause and reflect on what they were doing in tabling the legislation. The only thing I have to say to you is that this was ideologically driven legislation trying to undermine unions in this country, and it had no clear policy objectives from my perspective.