moved that Bill C-262, an act to provide for the settlement of labour disputes affecting the export of grain by arbitration and to amend the Public Service Staff Relations Act in consequence thereof, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak in support of my Bill C-262 respecting the Grain Export Protection Act. The bill deals with an issue that grain farmers in western Canada and in my constituency have been addressing and wanting to address for some time.
For 11 days last January and February a labour dispute at the Vancouver ports disrupted the flow of Canadian grain to export markets. It is estimated that Canada's grain industry incurred losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The federal government responded by introducing special back to work legislation, Bill C-10, to end the dispute and resume the flow of grain. Far from being an isolated case, it marked the 13th time that the workers were legislated back to work since the year 1966. Bill C-262 provides a permanent solution to this chronic problem by amending the Public Service Staff Relations Act to prevent labour disputes from disrupting the flow of grain from the farm to export.
In cases where grain transportation is threatened by strikes or lockouts those actions are prevented. To settle such disputes the bill provides for a settlement mechanism known as final offer selection arbitration. The process is only utilized if the parties involved are unable to reach an agreement through the normal collective bargaining process.
For those who are not familiar with final offer selection arbitration, let me quickly mention some of its key features. First, the trade union and the employer are requested to provide the minister with the name of a person they jointly recommend as the arbitrator.
Second, the trade union and employer are required to submit to the arbitrator a list of matters agreed upon and a list of those matters still under dispute. For the disputed issues each party is required to submit a final offer for settlement. The arbitrator
then settles either the final offer submitted by the trade union or the final offer submitted by the employer. The arbitrator is not permitted to split the difference. In the event that one party does not submit a final offer the other side is automatically accepted. The arbitrator's decision in these matters is binding on both parties.
Why was the final offer selection chosen? This dispute settlement mechanism used by the federal government in Bill C-10 was chosen to force the negotiating parties to make a greater effort at settling their differences by themselves. By compelling each party to submit a final best offer and by preventing the arbitrator from splitting the difference between the two, the mechanism creates a strong incentive for both parties to submit a credible, constructive and economically realistic offer for settlement. Any party that tables an unreasonable final offer would be taking a huge gamble the arbitrator would choose the other party's proposal. It is hoped that the existence of the process will encourage negotiating parties to reach agreements before it becomes necessary to have the arbitrator choose one offer or the other.
Since 1966, as I have mentioned, the federal government has had to pass special back to work legislation in the areas of longshoring and grain handling 13 times. The cost of such disruptions to grain farmers and the grain industry is tremendous. The Western Wheat Growers Association estimated that the 11-day work stoppage which was ended by Bill C-10 of this year cost the grain industry some $35 million in demurrage, penalties and out of pocket expenses.
When the Minister of Human Resources Development spoke on Bill C-10 he stated that the strike was threatening some $500 million worth of grain sales. That is not acceptable.
The frequency of such work stoppages over the past 20 to 30 years has also made foreign buyers question the reliability of Canada's grain supply. The most recent work stoppage at the west coast ports so concerned Japanese canola importers that they have begun offering Australian farmers minimum pricing contracts to encourage them to grow canola.
Another reason Bill C-262 is necessary is the vulnerability of western grain farmers to work stoppages in these industries. To illustrate just how vulnerable grain farmers are, let us consider this example. In 1988, 30 per cent of the country's grain exports were halted by 69 grain handlers in Prince Rupert. As usual the federal government was compelled to legislate them back to work after a few days.
One source of the problem is that Canada's transportation network has failed western grain farmers by limiting the options available to them in moving their grain to market. This is largely a result of the distorting effects government policies such as the WGTA subsidy, the Crow benefit, have had on the development of the nation's transportation structure.
Another source of grain farmers' vulnerability is the composition and location of Canada's grain markets. Approximately 80 per cent of Canadian grain is exported and most foreign buyers prefer loading out of west coast ports.
Finally there is a combination of legislation, regulations and purely economic considerations that has made it uneconomical or impractical for farmers to ship grain to export markets via such alternate routes as Thunder Bay, Churchill and American west coast ports.
On average the federal government has had to legislate grain handlers and longshoremen back to work, as I have said, about once every two years. Each time it happens grain farmers lose control over their livelihoods and their lives. Why should we not settle the issue once and for all instead of waiting for the next time it becomes necessary to rush through emergency back to work legislation? There is no need to have next times because with Bill C-262 we can resolve the problem once and for all.
One question asked is: Does Bill C-262 not violate the right to bargain collectively? I want to say very clearly that Reform is not anti-labour. That is not the intent of the bill. It is not a bill about union busting. We fully support the principle of collective bargaining. As a member of the legislature in the province of Alberta I have spoken a number of times in support of the process. However we also support the right of farmers to earn a living. We believe that governments have a responsibility to protect western grain farmers from ever again having to incur the costs they incurred during past strikes and lockouts.
In the sectors affected by the bill, that is the grain industry itself, the right to bargain collectively and to strike or to lock out employees is presently somewhat of a fiction. All the parties involved realize this very fact. Why do I say that? It is fiction because the federal government is always compelled-and the history is there-to intervene to end such work stoppages within a matter of days. The proof for this statement, as I have said more than once already in my remarks, is that the federal government has had to legislate the workers back to work some 13 times since 1966.
In a properly functioning labour environment with employers and employees they both have to take into account costs in the form of lost wages or in the form of sales. Then the question about strike action becomes something different. Normally this is a powerful incentive for both sides to reach an agreement at the bargaining table.
However this normal safeguard does not apply in the case of longshoring and grain handling. The knowledge that any work stoppage in these areas will not be permitted to last for any length of time has been factored into the negotiation process for the parties. They do not fear a strike nor a lockout knowing it
will not last too long. They know the victims in the process will not be the employers or the employees but western Canadian grain farmers because in the end they pay the bills.
When I look at legislation such as this I wonder whether or not it should be permanent legislation. I do not believe it should be permanent. We in the Reform Party hope that at some point we could take the legislation off the books. Such legislation is presently necessary due to a number factors. Western grain farmers have no choice but to export their grain via one transportation route. If they had the option of shipping their grain via route a or via route b when there is work stoppage there would be no need for Bill C-262.
This is one reason a Reform government would work to create a more flexible and efficient transportation network. Transportation reform is one of a series of measures which Reformers believe would empower farmers by giving them greater flexibility and control over their own livelihood. When such reforms are put in place there would be no need for legislation such as the private member's bill before us today. At such a time the legislation could be repealed with no harm to grain farmers. Until such reforms are made Reformers believe the government's priority should be to protect the western grain farmer.
If in the future after Bill C-262 has been repealed and there is some combination of events that threatens western grain farmers again, we would not hesitate to bring back into effect that kind of legislation.
I look at Bill C-262 as a private member and as a farmer from western Canada. I was involved in each work stoppage that occurred over the past 13 years either as a member of the legislature or as a farmer who wanted to ship grain to meet my expenses and commitments as a farmer. I was always frustrated.
I remember in the legislature moving resolutions that the provincial government should go to the federal government and get the work stoppage stopped so that farmers could start shipping their grain and getting out of some of the financial stress they were facing. The provincial government said it was a federal matter. Often it stayed that type of thing even though members of the legislature in Alberta agreed that something should be done.
I remember as a farmer saying: "I know I am paying the bill but I cannot sit at the table. I have no place at the table as a farmer even though I am paying the bill in order to make my case. There is no one at the table representing me". The grain companies did not have the vested interest of the farmer. We could not say anything to the grain companies. We could not say anything to the longshoremen. They were not responsible to the farmer. It had been and still is a very frustrating and difficult problem.
I always said that if I had the opportunity something should be done where the farmer is represented at the table. The bill empowers the federal government to be at the table and to say to the 23 or 25 unions between the farm gate and the hold of the boat that if they move to a point where they can negotiate no further at the table they must move to arbitration. You present your case at the table the best you can. If you win you get that settlement; if the employer or the shipping companies win then that is the settlement. That is the way it is. We would be a little more involved as a farmer in an indirect sense, the federal government would represent us there.
What happens now under the circumstances? What happened in January and February 1994? Again we had work stoppage. Farmers were in difficulty. The government was being pressured to bring in a bill to put these people back to work.
Then it becomes a political item. Should we force labour back to work or not? Should we get involved or not? What are the politics of it? Are the farmers stressed or are they not? Do we want to represent the union? We do not want to lose their vote out there.
All of a sudden here is the farmer of western Canada in terms of his financial circumstances and his marketing capabilities being involved in a political process. He should not be involved in this type of circumstance. As far as I am concerned, that is wrong and it should stop.
It is incumbent upon this government to look seriously at this proposal and take some action. I know that western farmers would shout hurrah and be excited about it. They would want this type of action from the government. They are getting tired of being pawns of these few longshoremen who are paid very high hourly wages, exorbitant wages, for the jobs they are doing out on the coast.
I have said this in the Alberta legislature and I have said it publicly to the media and in a variety of other places. We as farmers were so disgusted with the circumstances out there. I said that I could train 25 to 40 of the young farmers from my constituency in two weeks or less and move them out there. We could take over those jobs and we could continue to get our grain on the boats and move it forward.
I can tell you a lot of young farmers were so upset because of this strike, with people getting paid high wages out there and having no consideration. Living on the coast at Vancouver, sitting out on the port where the water never freezes over, or sitting up at Prince Rupert where there is not any kind of agricultural environment, there is no loyalty, no communica-
tion, no concern for that farmer. That farmer is out on the flat prairie trying to survive under not only very adverse climatic conditions but economic conditions as well.
This bill should not be taken lightly by government. The normal practice for this kind of thing is that if a private member introduces and presents a bill on the floor of the House of Commons or in a legislative environment, just because it comes from a private member of Parliament from the opposition the first knee-jerk reaction is for government members to come up with one reason or 10 reasons to reject the bill.
Government members do not think about the merits of the bill and whether it will it work. They often think about who is going to get the credit. Well, I could not care less who gets the credit, but we should think about the idea behind the bill and consider it sincerely so that we can solve this problem once and for all for the farmers of western Canada.
That is my case. I leave it with this House of Commons. I am certain that western Canadian farmers, the agriculture industry, are very interested in these kinds of changes. I urge my colleagues to give it their utmost support and consideration.