I'd like to say something, Madam Chair.
The key issue here is that the proposed legislation forces unions to negotiate with the government and to use fundamental rights such as the right to pay equity as a bargaining chip to secure other advantages for their members. It forces unions to take an overall approach to collective bargaining. Considerable sums of money are on the table. The employer asks the union to choose between the rights of its female members and those of its other members. This type of choice is unacceptable and that is why we are opposed to the bill.
We are all in favour of negotiating certain aspects of this issue. That is what the province of Ontario is doing, but in their case, pay equity is being negotiated separately, not as part of the overall bargaining process. That is the difference.