Madam Speaker, it is fundamentally important that the Reform party realize that there is a collective bargaining system in this country. What it intends to put forward here is that there is absolutely no collective bargaining process that is acceptable.
Quite frankly, there is a system and that system must be maintained. We must give opportunity for systems to resolve the problem. As the Minister of Labour has said over the last week in which the strike has occurred, it is ultimately our goal to make certain that the union and Canada Post had opportunity to resolve those problems by working together. That will best serve Canadians in the long run. To legislate workers back to work is not the optimum goal as these folks would like to suggest. The optimum goal is to have the workers and the company resolve the problem and come up with a proper solution that all parties agree to.
However, realizing that it was the ultimate goal that we could reach and it was unachievable over the short term, we have moved to bring in back to work legislation. There is a necessity when we start looking at the damage that is created by this strike to bring in back to work legislation.
Quite frankly, we introduced the back to work legislation within a week of the time the strike was going on. Forty-eight hour notice was required and it was introduced last Friday.
That is not a question when we start down the road to the system that is being suggested by the Reform Party. They are saying no collective bargaining in this country any longer, let's just close the door, jam it shut and say we will legislate anybody back to work in the civil service or anywhere else who disagrees with the process.