Mr. Speaker, I would first like to thank the Reform Party members who have already indicated they would further support this bill. I would ask the Bloc Quebecois members to think a bit before maintaining the position they have taken.
I could talk to you today of the disastrous effects this crisis is having on large businesses such as General Motors, Hoechst Canada, Canadian Celanese, Ford and others, but who in this House is speaking on behalf of all Canadians, not just those in my own riding, who have no means of defence?
As we talk, Canadian National is, to all intents and purposes, closed down; so is VIA. Canadian Pacific is operating at barely 85 per cent capacity.
With each hour we waste, the impact grows more serious. Certain grain exports have frozen. Last week, the minister tabled a bill for a return to work in the port of Vancouver. It seems to me that the political stand taken by the Bloc Quebecois members will hamper the settlement of this dispute and an eventual return to work.
With the tabling of the budget, last week, I got barely one phone call in my riding. With this dispute, however, which has gone on for months already, I have received calls from all sorts of people, including ordinary businessmen and businesswomen who are unable to go and collect the raw materials they need and whose business, therefore, could well close tomorrow, because the production line is stopped. It seems to me the problem is serious, serious enough for us to give thought to it and to put an end to the dispute.
Bloc Quebecois members accuse us of robbing these people of the right to negotiate. The bill that we are introducing today does not, as they claim, violate their freedom to resolve this dispute, when we consider that they have been trying to work their problems out for fifteen months now. It is true that they were
unsuccessful, however, this bill does not rob the various parties concerned of their freedom to go back to the bargaining table.
The minister herself made many personal attempts. Last night, she met with the three unions. Last night, the three parties admitted themselves to the media that they have come to a dead end. Is it advisable to wait another day or two? Is it advisable, as the New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois advocate, to vote against this bill simply in order to forestall the inevitable?
I would like to speak for the average Canadian who is affected, whether as a commuter on the Rigaud line or the Deux Montagnes line to Montreal, who relies on the rail service to get to work every day and who does not have the benefit of a second or a third car. Who speaks for them? Who speaks for the small entrepreneurs who are trying to get their imported goods off the docks in Montreal?
It is very easy to convene a press conference when you are General Motors or Ford Motor company. It is for those small business people that I feel we have to solve this problem.
It is true this has a tremendous economic impact, not only for the large rail companies but for the local economy in the Montreal area for which I speak with great vigour. The port of Montreal has paralysed shipments and the railway has paralysed shipments across Canada. I take my hat off to the Minister of Labour who has only been here a short while but has certainly been indoctrinated very quickly. She has done an excellent job and has introduced two very difficult measures.
As the minister said in her preamble, as a government we would have preferred not to introduce back to work legislation. It is always more desirable when both parties can agree. But both parties have not been able to agree. They have been trying for almost 15 months.
I would like to quote a report in this morning's Gazette by the federal conciliator, Mr. Allan Hope, who is quoted as saying: All three railways have tabled extremely controversial and provocative demands that they see essential to their financial health and viability''. He wrote in February:It would be difficult to conceive of an bargaining initiative more likely to provoke an impasse''. The parties have tried. Right now we are at a standstill. It is not going to get any better.
From talking to various people and watching television reports yesterday with stranded commuters about the threat of the possible shutdown of suburban railways, people will have more difficulty getting to work. I would ask all members on both sides of the House to support legislation so we can adopt it as quickly as possible.
It may not solve the deep rooted, underlying problems in the railway industry which we have discussed before. But I hope that despite this return to work legislation that all parties on both sides will continue to try to solve the long lasting dispute, put aside their differences for the betterment of the country, for the establishment of a reliable service that Canadians, importers and exporters, that small as well as large businesses can rely on. We do not have a law-
-like we have in Quebec, an act on essential services. It would be ideal if the federal government had similar legislation, but it does not.
For example, when there are municipal disputes, basic services still have to be provided.
In this case we cannot provide a reliable service where there is ongoing, continual labour conflicts. It puts in jeopardy not only the economic viability of the country but the local economy as well. The local economy in Montreal has suffered enormously.
In closing, I would like to ask my colleagues from the Bloc Quebecois to reconsider the impact which this dispute has already had and will continue to have on the province of Quebec and on the Montreal region especially and perhaps decide to vote in favour of this bill.