Thank you.
There's some confusion about the exact status of non-Jordanian workers in Jordan and their right to join a union. For certain, they do not have the right to participate and to vote on strikes. There we agree.
Over the years that I have been in touch with Jordanian workers, I know there are also separate union-type mechanisms in Jordan called the professional associations for doctors, lawyers, agricultural engineers, dentists, etc. There are about 12 professional associations. These are tightly regulated by the Jordanian government and do no have a lot of freedoms of association that we would otherwise identify.
You asked if we should rubber stamp bad behaviour. I think Jordan does react to international pressure. It certainly behoves Canada to engage in a dialogue with Jordan on what the appropriate labour conditions are and what changes need to take place in the ministries. One problem that Jordan has had in the past is its very frequent changes of ministers of labour. They have gone, and this year alone I think Jordan is on its third or so minister of labour.
A recent change that occurred in July this year was the curtailment of a tribunal in the ministry of labour called the wages authority, which had the authority to review salary disputes of workers until six months after they had left employment and to reach conclusions. Now they have only the ability to issue rulings for workers who are in current employment. But if somebody leaves employment because they have not been paid, they do not have access to this fast-track mechanism. In Jordan, by law, all labour disputes are supposed to be adjudicated within three months in the regular courts. However, that does not happen in practice. That's another issue I might—