Madam Speaker, maybe there is a new alliance. Certainly there is on this particular issue, unless that member was speaking only for himself and not for his party.
The member for Winnipeg Centre wants to repeal section 13(5) of the Canada Post Corporation Act. That section explicitly prohibits 5,000 rural mail couriers from forming a union.
Forming a union should be a basic fundamental human right in a country with a modern constitution and a modern charter of rights that talks about the freedom to associate, the freedom to assemble and the freedom of speech. This is a modern country in the 21st century which is still denying the basic human right of organization into a trade union for 5,000 employees in the public domain. It will be very interesting to see how individual members of the House vote on the bill which is about this basic human right.
As has been said before, rural route mail couriers are a very important part of the link between the people in rural Canada and the rest of the country. As a small child of four, five or six years old on our farm in Saskatchewan, I remember waiting twice a week for the mailman to deliver the mail. We were some 20 miles from the nearest village. This was an event that connected us to the rest of the country and the rest of the community. It is very important that this link be there.
What most people do not realize is that many of these people are really underpaid, in some cases it is not much more than the minimum wage. Their salaries are much lower than those of the letter carriers in the city. They do not have the benefits that people in the city have. They sign a contract and if they are not there to deliver the mail, if they want to take a holiday or go to a funeral or to some family function or event, they have to hire someone to take their place. They have to pay the person who takes their place a salary or a stipend for that day. It does not come from Canada Post. They can also be dismissed with 90 days notice, if I recall.
There is no protection. There is no association. There is no seniority. There is none of that stuff for the rural mail couriers in this country.
What we have here is a bill that speaks to basic fundamental human rights, the right of assembly, the right to organize, the right to free collective bargaining, which should be a basic right for each and every citizen of Canada. It will be very interesting to see how members across the way vote on this bill.
I suppose I am making this appeal to people who do not want to support the bill at this time. I wonder if they would be willing at least to send the bill to committee. If this bill went to committee, we would have a chance to study it further, maybe make some amendments and minor changes. We could call as witnesses many rural mail couriers from different parts of the country so they could tell their story about how they are discriminated against in terms of benefits and salaries, working conditions, the lack of protection, the lack of seniority, the lack of basic rights that most people in this country take for granted.
At the very least, let us vote for the bill at second reading so it gets to committee. It could then have the proper study. These people would have in the proper forum the podium from which to state their case. If they stated their case and told their story, I am sure all members of the House of Commons would agree that they deserve the same basic fundamental rights of every Canadian citizen, which are the right to organize and the right to free collective bargaining, the right to a decent salary and the right to decent benefits in all parts of the country.
Once again I congratulate the member for Winnipeg Centre. I appeal to the House to support the bill. It is a positive step forward in basic human rights.