Mr. Speaker, I am curious that the member would take a position that seems to be contradictory. On the one hand he talks about final offer arbitration or final offer selection as being the panacea to all the problems in the labour movement which would virtually eliminate strikes and take away collective bargaining. It would simply put it into a “you put your best foot forward and I will put mine” and that will be the end of that. Then with the same breath the member talks in terms of protecting the democratic rights of the workers he purports to be representing in this speech. I find those two positions rather contradictory.
Clearly collective bargaining in the labour movement is a time tested tradition that ensures that the workers have their say and have the ability to negotiate for their future and their families.
What the Reform Party would do in this case would be to strip the workers of their democratic right and then on the other hand try to pretend they are champions of their democratic rights because they want them to be able to vote on certification, even if 90% of them have signed cards.
Even Mike Harris in Ontario has not gone as far in the extreme as the Reform Party. I wonder if the member might have some comments on those remarks.