Thank you for that.
I'm moving an amendment, Mr. Chair, that would affect clause 10: “The Minister is the principal representative of Canada on the Joint Commission”. It adds, “In performing this function, the Minister shall consult on a regular basis with representatives of Canadian labour and trade unions”.
Mr. Chair, we've had repeated interventions from union organizations in Canada, all of which have expressed concerns around this agreement, around the labour side agreement, and around the so-called amendment that was brought forward just a few days ago. In each and every case, we've had representatives of Canadian labour and trade unions expressing concerns.
Mr. Chair, it's not just the unions that came before us from Canada; it's also the fact that there were so many unions that have been denied the opportunity to come before this committee and speak. We've referred to some of them.
There is the Canadian Labour Congress, the big umbrella group that represents the vast majority of organized workingmen and working women in this country. There is NUPGE, which is the largest union, the national union of provincial government employees, and there is also the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents our hard-working civil servants. All of them have said that they want to come before committee; all of them are being denied the opportunity to come before committee.