It is likewise a pleasure for me, Mr. Carrier, to be here and to find you in such good form.
As I mentioned before, when we started these multilateral discussions, there were a number of complaints, specifically from shippers who felt that they were not being dealt with appropriately and, as a result, were not being getting proper service. All through the process, they proposed operating with the final offer principle. We encouraged a commercial solution to resolve disputes. So the parties came to an understanding in principle. They sat down and tried to resolve their differences. They came very close to doing so, but in the end they could not make it work.
Today, we have a bill. The shippers' preferred tool was final offer arbitration. We agreed to that for several reasons, the first being that the commercial resolution mechanism had not worked. It was an important step, but since it did not work, we must clearly have another step, which, in one sense, seems to me to be more suitable.
In another sense, and this is one of the reasons that I am in favour of it, it allows small shippers to be able to get together with others with a view to having their differences resolved. Often small shippers have neither the financial resources nor the flexibility to do these things, particularly when they are going up against big companies.
I will add another reason that led me to move in this direction and to keep the possibility of recourse in the bill. It provides a commercial solution that is frankly cheaper and more transparent.
In this bill, we have provided the parties with tools that, in my opinion, are going to allow any disputes that arise to be fairly resolved. I do not think that there will be a constant demand for final offer arbitration. Once we have been able to establish the rules and the appropriate mechanisms, they will form the basis for the process.
Practically speaking, we are trying to put some discipline back into the industry so that we can maintain our competitiveness and assure ourselves that products and services are delivered in the most effective and efficient manner.