Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
After Mr. Ashton's opening remarks, I pulled up the current board of directors for the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. I noted one notable fellow British Columbian, Ken Georgetti. Ken Georgetti served for 15 years as the president of the Canadian Labour Congress and was the president of the BC Federation of Labour. He achieved significant legislative improvements for workers. As British Columbians, we know Ken Georgetti. That name is legendary in the labour movement, in our province and right across the country.
Clearly the issue is not that there is no labour. I don't think Mr. Georgetti has forgotten to stand up for workers just because he's not an active member of a union that is working at the port.
I guess that's my concern here. There's nothing preventing a government from appointing people who have a labour background. Obviously, the Government of British Columbia recommended Mr. Georgetti, and he was appointed in 2021. The question is on active members of labour or active members of port users. Should the Viterra president be able to sit on the board of directors? The answer would be no, because he would have an obvious conflict of interest because of his active involvement in the port.
If the issue is not that there's no labour representation—again, Ken Georgetti is a guy who's going to fight for labour on that board—is the issue not one of whether someone is an active participant in the day-to-day operations of the port? Is that not more of a consideration? Do you think that either labour or the business side could operate on the board of directors without being in a fairly obvious conflict of interest?