We are not talking left wing. That is what the hon. gentleman does not understand. In labour negotiations we need fairness, we need a balance, we need to recognize that the rights of the workers should be protected. In this case the rights of the Canadian people must also be recognized.
We are seeing this increase in militancy. We see labour leaders saying they are going to defy this law. We see them saying they are going to block bridges, close airports and highways. I would say to those labour leaders that what they are saying is totally irresponsible.
It does no service to the fine tradition that exists in the labour movement in this country, a tradition which has involved the building blocks that have made our economy strong. No labour leader worth his salt has ever bankrupted the company in attempting to get a better contract for the worker. It is pretty fundamental and it makes no sense.
I call on the leaders in this labour dispute to calm their rhetoric and lead the men and women of the postal service back to work so we can have peace and harmony and labour relations in postal service.
There is some suggestion that we came upon this solution quickly and without a lot of thought. It could not be further from the truth. Last July the federal government involved federal conciliation officers in an attempt to resolve items of dispute. In October the federal government appointed a conciliation commissioner. The very word conciliation should send a message that says this government is trying to head off what we are facing today, that this government wants to conciliate between the members of the postal workers' union and the employer Canada Post to see if we can keep the mail going in this country.
The solution by the right wing extremists in this place and in this country would be to simply privatize things like Canada Post and CBC. We have a very unusual country, a country that needs the public service to deliver services to all Canadians with fairness and equity. We cannot simply leave that to the private sector. I have no difficulty, and in fact support very strongly, that certain competition be allowed whether it is in delivery of mail and we are seeing that. We see E-mail becoming a more important opportunity for people. We see couriers for businesses. Fundamentally, just like we need a strong CBC, we need a strong service to deliver the mail from sea to sea to sea. We do not need the simplistic black and white solutions we hear coming from members opposite.
We have attempted to conciliate this problem. The government appointed Mr. Marc Gravel who is a respected and neutral third party. He did his best but in the end he said that he could not find common ground, a solution. Even after that when the strike began the government appointed, I hope all members in this House would agree, a very distinguished Canadian, Mr. Warren Edmondson, on November 24. The government asked him to go the table to see if he could find some common ground. He was unable to do so. As a result, we wound up in a strike position.
What is the government to do? We have tried the conciliation process. We have tried to mediate this process with respected, talented Canadians being involved. The union leadership stands up, goes in a rant and leads everybody out on strike. I have talked to postal workers in my riding and they are saying, the men and women on the line, please legislate us back to work. It is Christmas time. They are worried about their families. They make a reasonably good living. Their wages start in the $17 an hour range and they go up from there to $17.41. They are not interested in being on the picket line at Christmas time unable to provide for their families.
It is not the rank and file we are seeing more and more in labour disputes who are leading the protest. It is the extreme comments from many of the union leaders. Yes, it is, I say to the members opposite.
I know a little of what I speak having been raised by a labour leader in this country. I was in Sudbury when the steel workers led a raid on Mine mill. At the time I was a 16 year old lad driving my dad up to Sudbury to lead the raid. I thought it was really neat. I thought we were hunting communists. That was the spin. We were going to Mine mill in Sudbury to get rid of all the commies. Do members know what we were hunting? We were hunting for more members. Do members know why? For dues. It was more money.
I can tell members right now that the union leadership in this dispute are talking about 4,000 jobs. Somebody do the math quick. At $50 a month in union dues, is that a lot of money or is that a lot of money? Money is power and power in this country in labour negotiations wins in the minds of the militant union leaders.
I would plead with the rank and file in this case to understand that just because the charities were used as examples and the small businesses, in fact it is the very men and women who union leaders would purport to protect who they are hurting by walking out and going on strike.
The big companies do not care. The big companies who those guys pretend they want to get at do not care because they have alternatives. They can use their own internal staff or couriers. They have alternatives. It is small business, charities and everyday men and women in this country who are being hurt. It is the obligation of this government to put an end to this particular strike.
I close by saying that I hope the rank and file will understand that we want to end this fairly and with a reasonable wage increase. We think this bill does that. We look forward to getting the mail going as quickly as possible in this country.