Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the motion put forward by the member for Pictou—Antigonish—Guysborough. Our leader, the member for Halifax, has already put in place a private member's bill which has not yet been drawn.
Although Judge Richard's recommendations came down on December 18, 1997, sadly we have not seen the government come up with any answers to his recommendations. Nothing.
There was no doubt in anybody's mind whatsoever what happened at Westray. There was negligence on behalf of the corporate executives and the owners of Curragh Resources, namely Clifford Frame. There was no question, but what was missing was the law to hold them accountable.
At one time we did not have laws that strongly enforced impaired driving charges. At one time we did not have laws which brought criminals to justice when they raped women. At one time we did not have laws in place in regard to spousal abuse. At one time we did not have laws in place for child molesters. But what did we do to improve those situations? We brought in laws.
A government with any degree of conscience, leadership or vision would have come forth with a motion or bill to address this issue. It should not be left to the members of the opposition, but thank God members on this side have seen fit to address the issue because the government has not.
We heard a lot about what happened at Westray. Canadians nationwide were appalled. They could not believe that when workers go into their workplace they give up the right to be treated equally. They give up the right to be treated as human beings, as any other Canadian citizen, if someone's negligence and outright disregard causes their death.
Workers in this country are not treated fairly, not on this issue nor on other issues. It does not happen. They give up that right. Why are those rights not there? It is to protect corporations. Why do we have worker's compensation legislation in Canada? It is not to protect the workers. It is to protect the corporations from being sued by their workers if there is negligence and they become injured on the job.
There were supposed to be no-fault insurance plans to protect the corporations but what has happened? Workers do not have the same rights. They cannot sue their employer for outright negligence. What is even worse, we now find out that even if there are numerous deaths as a result of that negligence there are no laws that can bring those executives to task.
This is not about whimsical approaches. This is not about a one time instance where something happened and the worker died. This was chronic negligence. This was repetitious disregard for health and safety legislation. This was as a result not just of the company but of the conflict of interest of provincial governments and federal governments because they had been involved in making sure that project took place, that the mine operated.
How can we expect justice when there was provincial and federal government involvement in that whole Westray Project? How can we ask for justice?
Let us not let the lives of those 26 miners and the hardship and grieving of their families go for naught. Let us at least see one inkling of good come from that disaster. Let us see the criminal laws in this country change to bring those negligent employers—I do not care whether they are large employers or small employers—if they have been negligent, let them be taken to task before the courts of this country and be held accountable.