On that, Minister, I certainly can appreciate the market forces comment. It seems to me when I read the material, especially through the lens of the experience we have had at this committee, that it does give an opt-out clause, introducing forces outside of the public service. I can understand that. I would just suggest, however, that we carefully consider the legislation. To me, I think it's important to have a systematic way to do a workplace assessment every three to five years, where all employees know the pay equity challenges and then there is a process where both the union and the employer have to come together and work out a joint plan, and employees can step back at the end of that process and say, “Did our representatives do us right? Did the employer do right by us?”
There has also been some discussion at this committee with regard to having a more open process. Perhaps it doesn't have to be in legislation. Perhaps it could be done by a policy through Treasury Board. Perhaps there could be a conflict resolution process, an alternative to going through some of the longer provisions that are laid out. I know the union of financial professionals said they would have benefited from that. I think all of us here want to see these things get resolved early. Are you open to looking at alternative mechanisms?