Mr. Speaker, I have listened with interest to the remarks by members opposite on Bill C-262, especially the remarks by the member for Lisgar-Marquette. I recognize full well the impact that labour and management problems, whether in the railway system or on the west coast, have on the farm community. In fact I have been involved in a lot of those disputes over the years.
I think there are ways of resolving those issues through better labour management negotiations other than what this bill proposes. I believe this bill puts too much of the burden on the labour side of the equation rather than on equality between the two. I think it is possible to have labour and management come together. I know as a member on the government side that I will certainly be encouraging the Minister of Human Resources Development to look at ways of resolving disputes before they get to the stage where the system shuts down.
I remember one time I was involved in a dispute where we as a farm organization met with labour. We knew they were going to go on strike in July. The end of the crop year is July 31. We were able to talk to them and prevent them from taking that kind of action prior to the end of the crop year because prices were going down at the end of the crop year.
It is possible to find other ways to resolve labour disputes and we will be working at that as a government in coming years.