Mr. Chairman, I will not go back on old arguments because as the hon. member said the clock is ticking and time is whiling away. Let me see if I can deal with the hon. member's concerns.
I looked carefully at the amendment the hon. member presented. The difficulty I have with the amendment is that it is arbitration by another name. It is not final offer selection. In effect it changes the act. It would therefore not be a way of testing whether final offer selection is a useful technique. We would simply be putting it off to another time, another circumstance and who knows what charges of bias would then erupt.
I suppose what would happen is we would never have final offer selection because any party that did not want to have it would say there was a bias in that and therefore they do not agree with it. We would therefore be continuing to put off the day when we could try at the federal level to use it as an effective means of resolving some of our more difficult labour-management disputes.
If the problem is the feeling that the mediator by recommending a 65 cent level which is perfectly within his right to do if in the best interests is the way they saw a solution which could be rejected by the parties that somehow that indicates some sort of a favour on one side or the other, let me make an offer to the hon. member.
Under the legislation we say both parties can appoint an arbitrator on final offer selection if they can agree. The hon. member says that is not possible, they will not agree. I am glad the hon. member said this because it makes my point very well. We were not going to get agreement with these two parties. They were going to rely upon government intervention whatever happened because both parties, not just management but labour as well, were too used to that solution.
It then comes that it is my responsibility to choose, and the hon. member is suggesting that we want to have perceptions of fairness. How about if the first thing does not work and it comes to me to make a selection, we will put together a list of names. I will consult with members opposite to determine who they would most like to see as a fair person to put in the arbitrating procedure to show that in fact it is a fair offer. I will make that offer today so we can get on with the business of this legislation and the business of moving the grain.