Mr. Speaker, I take great pleasure in having the opportunity to comment today.
As a unionist myself, one of the problems I encounter on a regular basis is which hat does Bob White really wear? Does he wear the hat of the CLC or does he wear the hat of the NDP? That is probably one of the reasons union movements in Canada today are in such disrepair and have so little time for governments to listen to them. We do not really know whether they are part of the NDP movement or part of the real union movement, which people are looking for.
The issue of the union's lack of interest and solutions was brought up again today in committee. One of the affiliates of the CLC made a presentation of the ideas the member talks about. The conclusion of the ideas was to scrap the bill.
From my experience when I organized anything that took place in the union movement, the whole objective was to make sure we had our voice heard, that we had recommendations and ideas to put forward. From there we would want to meet with somebody.
What Mr. White has done, and I agree with the minister, is he has not given us any ideas to this point. He is just interested in playing politics on the backs of a lot of people who are very concerned about the EI changes.
If the member wanted to be helpful he would say to his friend Bob White, the executive of the NDP, that he should give us some ideas and some recommendations, come to the committee with them instead of what we heard this morning from one of their affiliates to simply scrap the bill. Anybody in their right mind knows that is not any idea or recommendation. A lot of Canadians have had a problem with the CLC for a long time. Those of us in the
union movement can say we are tired and are not willing any longer to put up with people like Bob White.
I recommend to the member and I say to the minister that he should condone those individuals. He should not stop saying the things he says because there are a lot of people like us out there who believe Bob White is doing a disservice to working men and women.
We will be having the CLC come forward in the next couple of weeks to make recommendations. I hope they are recommendations, not just political rhetoric, which is what we heard so far.
If the member thought the orchestrated demonstrations by union leaders in Atlantic Canada were being helpful and that they would make changes based on that, he should look at what happened in other jurisdictions as far as the union movement is concerned.
Nobody is paying any attention to labour because of comments like that and comments by Bob White. I hope they will change that approach and that we get back to doing business in the labour movement with governments no matter which stripe they represent.