Mr. Speaker, I will start by showing that the bill we are discussing today constitutes a denial of the very concept of public service. I will then go on to demonstrate that this bill also constitutes a denial of the right to strike.
First of all, this bill constitutes a denial of the concept of public service. The parameters the government wishes to impose upon the mediator-arbitrator in his negotiations with the workers reveal that the government has a somewhat curious concept, to say the least, of what a public service is.
In this connection, like the hon. member for Mercier before me, I will read another excerpt from clause 9, because it speaks volumes. Under clause 9, the mediator-arbitrator shall take into account, and I quote:
(a) that the Canada Post Corporation must, without recourse to undue increases in postal rates,
(i) perform financially in a commercially acceptable range—
I say that, from the moment that a mediator-arbitrator is required to be guided by such a criterion, there can be no more talk of the Canada Post Corporation being a public service. Its principal function is no longer to be a public service, but to be a profitable service.
If it were only that the government needed to ensure that the Canada Post Corporation was self-sustaining, but this is absolutely not the case. The government wants Canada Post to bring in $200 million. Delivering our letters and packages must be cost-effective, bring in money, as it would if it were a private company, and the target amount is $200 million. The Canada Post Corporation becomes a cash cow the government can milk as much as it wants.
Imagine what would happen if this principle of an obligatorily profitable public service were to become the rule. VIA Rail would not exist. It, like all passenger railway companies, cannot exist without subsidies and is even less likely to turn a profit. VIA Rail would perish. Imagine what would happen if municipalities were hit with this principle of profitable public service. Imagine a police officer having to bring in fines worth $60,000 before being hired at $50,000. Would that not be something?
I return to my quote earlier. I go back to it, because Canada Post is supposed to achieve $200 million without undue increases in postal rates. That is like saying that it is to achieve its objectives at a cost to its workers. That is so obvious. And even if we do not like strikes, we have to understand that workers really have no other way to defend themselves against this real aggression.
We all know that this strike hurts businesses and individuals, and if there is one part of the bill we agree with it is the part about returning to work as quickly as possible. However, what we absolutely do not agree with is having the negotiations involving the mediator-arbitrator conducted in the spirit of mercantilism. We cannot agree with that, and I, like my colleague for Mercier, are particularly proud that the NDP and we have come up with an amendment that will humanize this provision.
I now come to the second part of my speech, which will show that the bill before us is also a denial of the right to strike.
How could it not be the case, given that the dice were loaded from the beginning. The Canada Post Corporation has known since August that, should a strike occur, the government would immediately introduce back-to-work legislation to end it. Under these conditions, what does the right to strike mean? The act provides for this right, but the government makes sure that it is undermined, that it does not really exist, by saying “Ah, if there is a strike, we will take action to end it”. So, it is no longer a level playing field at the negotiating table. The government distorts the whole process, instead of applying the act and respecting its spirit. It is unbelievable.
It is unbelievable, but it is not. In fact, it is not surprising at all. Canada Post is nothing but a creature of the Liberal Party. The president of Canada Post is a former Liberal minister. The corporation is full of former or current friends of the Liberals. So, what happened should not come as a surprise. The predominating aspect of all this is the—I was going to say incestuous, but let us simply say family— relationship that exists between the government and Canada Post. The government is the father figure, while Canada Post is the son. The father will protect the interests of the son, particularly since the son will bring in $200 million. So, it is all very normal.
To conclude, let me quote Karl Marx, whose slightly fascist tendencies are well known. About the system which he called capitalist—now known as market system—Karl Marx said that power of any sort, be it democratic or authoritarian, always takes the side of the employer against the workers. He said that, but he was wrong, although one might be inclined to think otherwise given what is going on here today. He was wrong because there is a way to ensure it is not so, to ensure that, in a democratic system, power is not necessarily on the side of the employer. And that way is called social democracy.