Thank you.
This is a unique case. A company, Air Canada, was privatized at the end of the 1980s, in 1988-1989, and this came with certain conditions. One of them was that certain jobs had to remain in this country. The company also had to ensure a certain level of services regarding the maintenance of Air Canada airplanes. This allowed our society to keep some good jobs. These jobs provided a livelihood for communities. People paid taxes and all of this was protected by law.
We are talking about a case where the company stopped complying with the law and caused 2,600 people to lose their jobs. And yet in the initial agreement, these jobs were supposed to be kept here. The workers turned to the courts and they won. They won their case in the Superior Court of Quebec and they also won in the Court of Appeals in Quebec because they were right. The law was clear on this.
The new Liberal government is now going to authorize Air Canada, retroactively, to do what it did not have the right to do in 2012.
Put yourself in the place of the citizens concerned. Do you think the government is acting responsibly by authorizing illegal activities by a company, and the illegal decisions this company made four years ago? Is it responsible to say that that is all well and good, and there's no problem? What message are you sending citizens with regard to respecting the laws of this country?
Take your time before you answer me.