Mr. Speaker, for weeks a rail strike was expected. Now, after millions of dollars in lost wages and profit, and aggravating delays for commuters, farmers, and exporters, the Liberal government is finally ready to heed Reform's call for back to work legislation.
The Bloc and the NDP are holding up speedy passage of the legislation, adding to the loss of Canadian jobs and exports. It should not have come to this and it need not, had the government acted.
Since Reform knew weeks ago that legislation would be necessary to end this dispute, since the unions knew it, CN-CP knew it and the government knew it, why did the government not act sooner to avert this costly rail strike?