Mr. Speaker, one of the demands of striking federal public servants in my riding is that they should be paid the same in all regions of the country. However, at this very moment a federal electrician in Newfoundland, doing exactly the same job as his counterpart in British Columbia, gets $4 an hour less.
This is the policy of the same government that recently changed our health transfers to a per capita basis, saying it wanted to make all Canadians equal no matter where they lived. If the cost is the same per capita in all regions of the country to build and equip hospitals, to hire nurses and doctors, why does it not cost the same all over the country to hire an electrician?
I support pay equity. Glaring pay inequities, be they gender based or geography based, are a disgrace and should be eradicated from the public service of Canada.