Mr. Speaker, I believe it was Yogi Berra who said, and if it was not Yogi I am sure he will not mind if I attribute it to him, it seems like déja vu all over again.
Last week it was back to work legislation for the port of Vancouver and this week it is for most of the railways. I suggest the time has long past for the government to get serious about labour issues and come up with a long term solution that does not rest on the usual crisis management approach of back to work legislation.
We can draw some comfort from the fact that Bill C-77 does contain a guiding principle which allows the commissioners to look at long term solutions. I am pleased to see that clause in the bill. However, since they have 70 days to file a report, I hope their suggestions are acted upon faster than those contained in the Fraleigh report, the Hope report, or even the long delayed and never seen Fraser study.
Perhaps I am beginning to sound like a broken record. I have said it so often in this House, and I think it bears repeating. I want to impress upon this government that we have to look to the future and find better ways to deal with work disruptions.
I want the House to know that the Reform Party is concerned and that is why my colleague, the member for Lethbridge introduced Bill C-262. That bill was specific in that it would have applied to the grain industry but the principle of final offer arbitration is one that can be applied in any labour dispute.
When the bill came up for a vote on Monday, we discovered that the government has made an new ally with the Bloc and even the NDP, the very people who are responsible for holding up speedy passage of this bill, and as a result shot down Bill
C-262. I was disappointed by the coalition that was formed against that very sensible bill.
As is evidenced in Bill C-77, the government is putting its agenda first and perhaps labour issues second. The difference in the coming into force provision of CN, CP and VIA Rail, perhaps indicates that the government is more concerned with protecting the government's interest in CN than helping Canadian shippers, manufacturers, farmers and workers. The cost to the economy is maybe secondary. Securing a positive atmosphere for the sale of CN might be the primary goal here.
Does it not matter as much that VIA is losing $1 million a day or that passengers are inconvenienced? Does it not matter that the transportation of goods in this country is paralyzed? Does it not matter that our international trade reputation is in jeopardy, suffering another blow that perhaps we cannot recover from this time?
As we speak, container vessels are steaming out of Canadian ports and off to U.S. ports. The whole time the Bloc and the NDP are stalling, ports throughout Canada including Quebec are losing port fees and pilotage charges. The American longshoremen have been collecting the wages that Canadians are missing.
The trucking companies are missing out on business that helps them and their workers to survive, to pay their bills and to feed their families. Our balance of payments with our free trade partner are tipping further in favour of the U.S.
Now let us look a little closer at the real impact of this work stoppage. On the east coast the port of Halifax estimates that it has lost $1.25 million so far in this strike alone. Eight ships have already left for New York. We all know that the economy of eastern Canada just does not need nor can it sustain this kind of setback.
On the west coast the port of Vancouver was just recovering and getting back on stride after back to work legislation when this disruption came along. Now the port of Vancouver is effectively grinding to a halt again. At the moment 22 ships are at berth in the port of Vancouver, four of which are grain vessels waiting for loads of grain. Ten more are at anchor, three of which are grain carriers. British Columbia coal miners are anxious to see their four coal carriers now at dockside loaded so that mines can keep operating and miners can keep working.
The strike has tremendous spinoff and domino effects. It is not only the people on strike who are suffering or all the industries that depend on that form of transportation. The potash industry will soon slow down if the two ships waiting at anchor cannot load their cargoes.
Why is it that we still cannot get unanimous support to provide speedy passage of the bill? Of course it is inevitable. It is just delaying the inevitable to hold up the bill.
Vancouver's loss is Seattle's gain. Halifax's loss is New York's gain. Job losses are the order of the day in manufacturing. If car manufacturers cannot get their parts they have to lay off workers. If they are not supplying cars, dealers do not have cars to sell and have perhaps been laying off people in their dealerships.
Farmers are extremely vulnerable to the whims of the transportation system. The only option they have is to hope the situation will be alleviated before it gets worse and worse. About all they can do at the moment is hope and sit back and watch their hard-won international contracts go down the drain, contracts that may be impossible to get back. After all, why would a buyer renegotiate a contract with a Canadian who could not guarantee the product will be delivered for the promised date? Buyers will go elsewhere, all because the government was slow to react and because the Bloc and the NDP did not care about the average Canadian worker.
We were asking for the legislation a week ago. If it had been introduced a week ago we would be further down the path to having it passed and assented to than we are at this point.
It is inevitable. I understand my colleagues in the opposition making a political statement. I suspect the statement has been made now. The real loser is the Canadian worker who gets laid off from his job simply because the system is backed up.
We are putting the government on notice that the Reform Party will be watching to make sure it has the best interests of Canadians in mind and that it is not just out to protect and fortify the sale of CN.
We want to know what criteria the minister will apply to her ministerial order to put CP and VIA workers back to work. Will she put them back to work when she thinks the levels of services have dwindled, or will she listen to the people who actually use the services such as the shippers and the Canadian Wheat Board? Will she be listening to those people? We will be watching to see that she does.
We expect she will take into account the impact continued stoppage will have on the wheat board, car manufacturers, small business people, grain producers, coal miners, lumber producers and kids who will not get a new pair of shoes because their parents have been laid off from their jobs. Many people are having a very difficult time with their payments. Even a week off work can be catastrophic to them.
As a Montrealer I am sure the minister can appreciate the problems faced by travellers and workers who are having difficulty getting themselves and their goods in and out of that city. When Toronto commuters are inconvenienced or late for work, their business, productivity and families are affected.
We are prepared to give the minister the benefit of the doubt. We are prepared to believe the minister will do the right thing, that she will order CP and VIA back to work before there are any devastating disruptions if there have not already been some.
The Reform Party intends to support the bill. I suggest the other parties in the House have made their political statement and have made their political point. Now we should all get behind the bill and do what is right for Canada.