Good morning, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, witnesses. I'm very pleased to join you. I may ask questions that have already been asked, but I'll try to avoid that.
By way of a short introduction, you should know that before I went into politics, I was a union leader for a long time. When Mr. Long tabled this study motion, I had reservations about its substance. Unionization plays a major role in our society, particularly in Quebec. It's well known that there are advantages to being unionized, both in terms of wages and benefits, and I would even say in terms of certain social protection laws. However, unionization has been a battle. Returning to my reservations, I wondered what direction this study would take. Mostly, I hoped it would shed light on these issues rather than what I feared.
The Conservatives did that back in the day, with the two bills Mr. Coteau just mentioned. If we play that game, I'd say that, even if the right to unionize plays an important role, the interdiction of freedom of association, even in unionized environments, is still frequent. I'm thinking here of labour disputes. When there are lockouts, the use of scabs is an attack, a direct attack on the rights of association and negotiation.
That said, until recently, and you'll correct me if I'm wrong, Quebec had one of the highest rates of unionization in Canada. We also know that what contributes to this rate is the public service, which is highly unionized. This is the case in health care, education and the public service in general. However, there are figures that show that in the private sector, the unionization rate has declined.
Is it true that we're seeing a decline in unionization rates in the private sector? If so, could you point us to some sectors?