Mr. Speaker, I am very proud and honoured today to rise in this House and give my full support to Bill C-262 which was presented by the hon. member for Lethbridge.
The timing of this particular debate in the House is absolutely perfect. We are sandwiched between back to work legislation which occurred last Wednesday and certainly the potential of another forthcoming round of back to work legislation in the rail industry. We could not have asked for a better time to talk about this ongoing problem which has occurred many times in the history of western Canada as far as the agriculture business goes.
Today I would like to do something just a little bit different. Rather than dwell on how the innocent third party is affected by this proposed legislation, I would like to look at all aspects. I would like to look at how this would affect labour and management and also of course, how it would affect the third party, in this case, the shipper.
I want to talk about how this would affect the shipper in this case. In my position I am most familiar with how it would affect the agriculture industry in Saskatchewan particularly in Moose Jaw-Lake Centre.
I want to look back at the labour dispute in Vancouver a little over a year ago. We looked at something like 11 days of tie ups. The grain industry never recovered all summer from that labour dispute. I know that firsthand. I live about two and a half miles from the grain elevators in my home town and our community never recovered and Saskatchewan never recovered from that short labour tie up.
I also looked at some of the evidence I received in the last few days. There is a statement from Mr. Blair Wright of Olds, Alberta, an alfalfa dehydrator. He said that his company was just beginning to make inroads to Japan. He estimated that he lost $500,000 in revenue during that shut down in Vancouver last year.
He also said that the Japanese businessmen he deals with stated they cannot understand why Canada allows such destruction of its export business. Mr. Wright is obviously concerned that he will lose his Asian markets entirely for this emerging product. He also stated that the American ports on the west coast are actively promoting their continuous delivery to Asian markets. The port of Vancouver has the potential to lose major customers if this government does not take legal means to prevent further labour disruption.
I also talked to alfalfa dehydrators in Saskatchewan last week. They told me that a labour dispute of one week is an annoyance. A labour dispute of two weeks inflicts serious pain on their industry. Anything longer than a two week labour dispute is a complete disaster to the industry.
With regard to things like canola prices, although they may not be directly affected, on Monday, March 13 the price of canola was $9.44 in my hometown. By Wednesday morning it had dropped to $9.20, a drop of some 24 cents. Is that directly related to labour problems? Perhaps some of it could be related.
Having said that, I look at the innocent third party, the shipper. I know this piece of legislation would do the job to alleviate those types of problems and frustrations. I look at labour and the unions. There have been arguments in this House that it is not fair to labour to have final offer selection. I do not agree with that. I see what long term labour disputes do to labour. I have seen it in my home area of Moose Jaw.
There have been two major strikes at Moose Jaw Sash and Door. The people were on strike or locked out for more than three years. The company ended up closing its doors. Did that help labour? No.
Moose Jaw meat packers were on strike for some 18 months recently. I had the opportunity to drive by their strike location many times. These people were playing horseshoes and cards because there was no work to do. Did that help those people? No. The labour dispute did not solve one thing for labour in that instance. I talked to many people on the line. They were willing to go back to work. They wanted to go back to work, to some real work. There is no way in the world they could ever hope to recoup any of the financial loss they faced by being out on strike for so long.
Looking at that, labour is in a no win situation. In a discussion paper written by Mr. Errol Black and Mr. Jim Silver, they quote the idea of final offer selection. They say: "The fact is that final offer selection is aimed at a real need, namely, the problems of workers in weak bargaining units".
They go on to say: "Final offer selection provides such workers with an alternative to strikes which they have little chance of winning. Any repeal of final offer selection", which by the way is in place in Manitoba, "and this problem-unionizing and winning gains for workers in weak bargaining positions-will remain". This is more evidence that long labour tie ups have a harmful negative effect on workers.
I want to talk about management, or the businesses and companies. When they face long term labour disputes either by strike or lockout it really disrupts the orderly flow of any product. Again, in this case I look at agriculture products from Saskatchewan to either Vancouver or Thunder Bay. When we see
a tie up like that, there is no way in the world to recoup financially those losses faced in a very short period of time.
I look back to last year's labour dispute and remember talking to people in the grain industry. They said there was no way in the world they could catch up to what they had lost in a very short time. Those effects are felt immediately.
I spoke earlier about the labour dispute at Moose Jaw Sash and Door. That company was locked out and on strike for so long that it closed its doors. The company is no longer in existence. Did that solve any problems for the good of business? I do not think so. That is why we have to look at some alternative to bring this thing together so that we do not have these problems as time goes on.
If we talked to all three parties we could sell them on the idea for final offer selection and for this bill. In my mind, as a farmer from central Saskatchewan, as my colleague mentioned before, I have seen the effects firsthand of these types of labour disputes. We never recover from them.
My colleague across the way said we cannot call this an essential service. I am not calling it an essential service, but it is essential to the livelihood and future of those people in my province. Their financial lives, perhaps not their physical lives, depend on getting their products from their farm gate to the port. That is the way we do business in Saskatchewan. That is the way we make our living. If that is interrupted then it is essential in my mind because it has a very far ranging, serious effect on my livelihood.
In conclusion, again I would urge all members of this House to support this legislation. It is the first real positive step I have seen since I have been in this House to eliminate a big, broad problem with a wide ranging approach, a fair approach and an approach that makes a lot of common sense to me.