Madam Speaker, I am sorry that I am here to speak to this issue, but glad that I have the opportunity to speak for another 10 minutes. There was a lot that I did not have the chance to say about the previous amendments and I will make a point of emphasizing those points.
We are now dealing with the amendments in Group No. 3. They have been brought forward by my colleagues, and obviously none of my colleagues from the other parties, not the reform alliance nor the Bloc. Maybe one member of the Conservative Party had a little meek voice at one point. There has been nothing from government members, not a thing. Once again it emphasizes that they are all on the same wave length, that they are all in bed together, so to speak.
I am really disappointed in my colleagues from the Bloc. As much as I know they are here strictly for Quebec, usually they have more of a social conscience than some of the other parties. Quite frankly, that they would not even stand to speak for workers in Cape Breton is a disappointment. I expected more of a principled approach. Those members are there to support workers. The workers are fighting for what is important to them, ensuring that they have a decent pension and an opportunity to have a say over what happens to their pension.
Again, as my NDP colleagues have mentioned, there are some really way out amendments being asked for. The other parties are quite bothered over having to stay these extra hours to discuss these amendments. It is important for people to know that the hours have been extended. The NDP has forced the hours to be extended. The government wants to get on with other issues, so it wants to extend the hours to get this over and done with. Let us wipe those Cape Bretoners out of the House. Let us get them off the Hill as quickly as possible and move this issue out of the way, so we can deal with other things and go home for the summer recess. Everybody here is mumbling because they have to stay late tonight.
As hon. members are mumbling because they have to stay late tonight, as they are really feeling put out, they should think of each and every one of those miners in Cape Breton. They should think of each and every one of the families in Cape Breton, those small and medium size businesses and all those people who will be directly affected by what is happening here today. As they are feeling bothered, instead of hemming and hawing and cursing, they should take a moment to think about those families in Cape Breton who will lose out because the government did not have the will to start working on this issue five years ago.
It is quite apparent that it planned this five years ago. Instead of getting on with things and ensuring that there was training in place and opportunities in place, the government is fighting, saying that it does not want to put any more money into that black hole. The reform alliance members are saying no more money into that black hole and asking where else would pensioners get any money at 25 years or whatever. They are moaning about that.
The bottom line is that those miners in Cape Breton do not want a government handout. They never did. They want to work. As rotten as the coal mining industry can be, as dirty, wretched and unhealthy as it can be, those miners want to work, just like the miners at Westray wanted to work. They want to put food on their tables, a roof over their head, and clothes on the backs of their families. That is what they want. They do not want a government handout. The government had this plan in the works. Did it do anything for the last five years? No, nothing. All of a sudden it comes down with this policy of “We are not going to give them anything. We are going to get out of this”.
As I said when I spoke to the amendments in Group No. 2, we will watch to see what happens with coal mining in Cape Breton. If Devco is sold off for a little buck and a patronage investment is made, or if we see Canadian dollars being invested in Colombia, we will remind the government each and every day and we will remind Canadians each and every day that that was what it was about. It was a cheap investment.
We maintained all along that the government never really cared about decent labour standards, work standards or any of those conditions. It will take us right to the bottom. It will wipe out the coal mining industry in Canada, but invest in that same industry somewhere else with Canadian taxpayer dollars, the same dollars that those miners in Cape Breton put into the economy in their communities and throughout Canada through their taxes, their EI payments and their investments in the local economies.
The miners in Cape Breton cannot afford to invest in the Cayman Islands. The cannot afford to run a flagship under another country. They are not investing in Colombia; they are investing in Canada. That is more than this government is making sure is done.
The first amendment in Group No. 3 asks for:
“good mine safety, to provide permanent, full-time employment to the residents of the Island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and to conduct its operations in a manner that benefits the economy of the Island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia”.
That is pretty far out.