None of this is very easy. I'd come back to B.C. last summer for two weeks—frankly, two weeks too long—where, again, we're talking about the BCMEA, representing the employers, private actors, and we're talking about the longshoremen's union, and again, private actors. We entrust these private actors with our supply chains, particularly out west, from Ontario westward. This had a huge effect on the economy. Every day I would go down and check into the hotel for one more night, thinking it would be the last, but that went on for two weeks.
Just to build on that, we have started a process. I was never happy with just getting a deal. There was something fundamentally wrong with what happened there. Frankly, if you're going to trust people with something as important as the supply chains of this country, then you'd better make sure it's working well. Clearly it wasn't. I wasn't convinced that the fundamental issues behind that dispute had been resolved. We are now starting an industrial inquiry commission. This is something that has been called for. We just announced the commissioners. This is big news. This is going to be big news. They will diligently go about their work over the course of the next year. They will talk to people.
Look, one of the things that you find is that it's not just the idea of banning replacement workers; part of that legislation is also coming to an agreement on what a maintenance of activities agreement would look like. What are the things that have to remain whole? What can we all agree on that have to be maintained? Using replacement workers just adds to the instability. It adds to the insecurity of so many workers. It adds to a feeling of just complete and utter disrespect.
Can you imagine, Mr. Long, going to work one day, and a dispute happens, and then somebody just walks by you and goes about your job?
I get the feeling that you want to ask a follow-up.