Madam Speaker, it is a sad day for all of us here. We have reached the point that in order to receive at least some kind of reasonable and fair debate on a situation so important to so many Cape Bretoners, we literally have had to force the government into every little piece of debate we get in the House.
It is extremely sad that on this day there are parties, such as the partners, the brothers and sisters so to speak, of the Liberals on the right side of politics, the Conservatives and the reform alliance, who swear up and down against closure but will not stand in the House to force debate on this issue for Cape Bretoners. Not a bit. They are right over there with the Liberals. They might as well sit in the same seats. We have said all along that there is no difference.
I think Cape Bretoners will now know true to heart that there is no difference among any of those parties. They had a chance to speak out on this issue, to support Cape Bretoners, and to support amendments that would assist the people in that area of the country and they have failed to do so, there is no question.
I want to thank my colleagues, certainly from Nova Scotia, but from Cape Breton, who have made it very clear to us as their caucus colleagues the importance of this issue. We have followed it with them through the numerous stages over the last number of months. They have raised their concerns with us almost each and every day over the last number of months, or even a year or so since this all started to transpire. Their concerns are for the people of Cape Breton and what they saw the government do to the coal mining industry in Cape Breton. They have kept us up to date all along.
We still had a shred of hope that government members would see the light. But lo and behold they are buried somewhere down in that mine with no hope of ever coming out. They cannot see that there is a need to put in some kind of progressive amendments that will support the people of Cape Breton, the mine workers who have been there for years. I thank my colleagues for keeping us abreast of that over a number of months.
It is beyond me why the Group No. 2 amendments cannot be supported by all parties in the House. There does not appear to be anything dastardly that will overthrow the government. The amendments call for fairness. They talk about the reform alliance's favourite rout, to be at the grassroots, to keep the people involved. Did they support going out to Cape Breton to hold meetings and have the people involved in the discussions? Not a chance. Not the people in reform alliance because they talk one way this time of the year and another way when they think nobody is watching. But that is not the case. Canadians will know that it is just a lot of talk and no action when it gets right down to it. The bottom line is they did not support amendments to have mine workers or pensioners on the board. Boy, that is a shocker.
What is so far-fetched about wanting the people who put in years of their lives and probably their health in a good number of instances, to have an opportunity? An hon. colleague from the Liberals said there may be a time when there are only one or two members on the board, that they may not need that many and they do not want to restrict it by having to have Cape Bretoners.
If we took that kind of attitude in the House of Commons, where would we be? Let us restrict it by not having any members from Ontario. Boy, that would do it. It is absolutely disgusting to even hear those kinds of statements. It makes absolute sense to have the people who will be most affected by this legislation and most affected by what happens with their pensions on the board.
There is not a lot of trust. I do not have a lot of trust in who the Liberal government might appoint to a board that will look after my pension. I would like to have some say in that. It is not unreasonable for Cape Bretoners and the mine workers to have a say in who will be looking after their pensions.
The Group No. 2 amendments are pretty much all along that line. Motion No. 9 states:
That Bill C-11, in Clause 8, be amended by adding after line 41 on page 3 the following:
“(4) One director other than the Chairperson and the President shall be an employee of the Corporation”.
That provides for at least one employee representative to sit on the board of the Devco board of directors.
Another shocker is that the government changed the Financial Administration Act to make sure it could sell off Devco at, let us say, a buck. Let us get down to it, it changed the act so it could sell off Devco not even at value.
Canadians will be watching just to see what happens with Devco because after today they will know it is an issue. They will know that government patronage is probably lurking somewhere. To the credit of the reform alliance members, they love digging up smut. I am sure when this is all done they will be able to follow up on who ends up buying the coal mines and Devco, if they so choose. We never know because they change from day to day and maybe they will not bother. Let us see whether it is tied to one of the front seats on the other side of the House. It will be very interesting and Canadians will be watching.