Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member for Winnipeg Centre that Bill C-19 is good legislation. I am not sure about the amendments, but the bill is good. I disagree with him on the remark he made about asbestos.
There are countries in Europe that are currently proposing banning asbestos. That would be devastating for asbestos workers across Canada. It is based on the same misinformation that the member for Winnipeg Centre cited.
In fact the International Labour Organization in Geneva, with which the Canadian labour union movement operates very, very closely, has developed a convention that has been approved by the ILO. It talks about the safe use of asbestos and ways of applying and installing asbestos safely. I would ask the member to please check his facts on that.
I would like to comment briefly if I could on the comments earlier by the Reform labour critic. We have had this debate before in this House very briefly. It has to do with final offer selection arbitration. Again I come back and ask the member, if there is a system where they either accept one position or the other, it seems to me that what there is is one happy party and one unhappy party. I am not sure that is the way we should solve labour disputes in Canada.
I am reminded again of some of the ironies of Reform policy positions. On the one hand, they will say we should let the market decide, but there are big exceptions when it comes to labour negotiations when it affects prairie farmers. I would have to say at the outset I have a lot of empathy with the plight of the prairie farmers when it comes to getting their product to market, and all Canadians do. On the one hand they say to let the market decide and on the other hand they say when it comes to labour-management negotiations as it affects wheat shipments to the ports that we should put in this final offer selection arbitration where neither party will be happy with the results.
I think we should pause and reflect on these proposals by the members opposite.