Madam Speaker, I am very glad to take over the debate, to receive the baton passed by my very capable colleague, the member for Winnipeg North Centre who was making some excellent points when her time unfortunately ran out.
At this late hour of the night it is significant to note that it is only the NDP that is standing up in defence of the people of Cape Breton. Speaker after speaker after speaker from the New Democratic Party caucus has tried to drive home the point that we are trying to emphasize the fact that the people of Cape Breton are not being well served by Bill C-11. In fact, Bill C-11 is so fundamentally flawed that it needs and deserves the attention of the nation and it deserves the attention of the House of Commons.
My seatmate here in the House of Commons, who is in fact my roommate as well as we share an apartment in Ottawa, is the member for Sydney—Victoria. We have become close friends. He and I have visited each other in our ridings. The member for Sydney—Victoria has visited me in the riding of Winnipeg Centre and I in turn have visited Cape Breton, the riding of Sydney—Victoria.
The one thing that struck us, even in the early part of our relationship, was the similarities that exist for those of us who live in regions outside central Canada. It is glaring and obvious to anybody who does not live within the great heartland where I suppose the power exists in central Canada just how our issues are not reaching the national forefront. Our issues are not being given the attention they deserve in terms of the direction in which the country is going. This leads to a resentment.
It is not any mystery why people resent central Canada. Frankly, it is because people in regions outside central Canada feel abandoned. They feel cut off. They feel adrift. Even if there was once a pact that sought to bring us all together in a national vision, that accord has been broken and shattered in recent years. It has been destroyed by the government. Ironically it was the Liberal Party in earlier years that created that accord, people with better vision than those in the present government. Notwithstanding the fact they may have been in rural governments in a past era, the deal has been broken.
Previous speakers have pointed out that our Prime Minister has been making speeches recently about the importance of making globalization work for all people. He is speaking in global terms. What he has not been talking about is making Canada work for all regions. That seems to be an obsolete concept. That seems to be a concept that was embraced by previous Liberal governments and it has been abandoned by the present Liberal government. Bill C-11 is the manifestation and personification of that abandonment.
I want to speak to the Group No. 3 motions to amend Bill C-11. We cannot really do that until we go through a bit of the history of why it is necessary that we have these motions at all.
First and foremost, the reason we are debating this issue tonight is that the Liberal government refused to bring the debate to where it belongs, which is to the island of Cape Breton to talk to the families of the Cape Breton miners and the people who are directly affected by Devco. It was cowardly of the government to introduce Bill C-11 and to close Devco without consulting the people there.
What were the Liberals really afraid of? Were they afraid that the wives and families of Cape Breton miners would come to them at a public hearing and voice their concerns? Is that so threatening? Is it so damaging that people might have an alternate opinion about what we should do about the dissolution of the Cape Breton Development Corporation? Cowardly is the only word that comes to mind.
The fact that we are here so late at night discussing this, trying to keep the House going so we can have this proper debate only indicates we should have had this debate much earlier when we had the opportunity. The government refused to go to Cape Breton to consult. It left the miners of Cape Breton with no alternative. Sometimes when the mechanism we put in place to give ourselves satisfaction in terms of having our voices heard collapses and falls apart, Canadians are left with no alternative but civil disobedience.
I hate to say it but it is true, the miners of Cape Breton took things into their own hands. We would not even be here today with the small bit of satisfaction that Cape Breton miners will get out of this dissolution if it were not for the courage of Cape Breton miners to take over their mine by civil disobedience, to strike illegally and to occupy the mine. That took courage. That took strength. That indicates to me that the government refused to listen to them and refused them access to legitimate means of satisfaction, which should have been available to them and this House of Commons through legitimate debate, and should have been available to them at the committee stage, when the committee could have actually toured Cape Breton and listened to the concerns of Cape Breton miners.
I am pleased that at the committee stage our party at least put forward meaningful amendments. Some of those amendments now stand before the House under Group No. 3, but they were raised at committee first. We made legitimate, honest attempts to change Bill C-11 to make it more fair, more just, more equitable, and they were refused. They were just cast out. They were categorically denied by the Liberal majority on the committee.
Some of those amendments were as reasonable as things like guaranteeing that the people of Cape Breton would be represented on any Devco board of directors in the future. How could anyone think it would be in any way wrong for the people who are directly affected to have representation? Honestly, it is enormously frustrating for those of us who are still trying to get some satisfaction out of this bill.
It is really no surprise that there are no Liberal representatives from Cape Breton. I would say that Cape Bretoners have lost any confidence in the Liberal government to represent them adequately. There are only two members of parliament from Cape Breton. They are both from the New Democratic Party. I guess that explains partly why we are still here standing for Cape Bretoners and trying to represent their interests.
It comes to mind that there are no Liberal members of parliament from all of Nova Scotia. That perhaps is significant.
The debate on Devco was quashed by the Liberal government. The Liberal government has tried its best to deny voice to the people of Cape Breton by ramming Bill C-11 through the House of Commons, knowing full well that there are reasonable arguments to be made to the contrary.
Many of the things brought forth by the member for Sydney—Victoria and the member for Bras d'Or—Cape Breton two and a half years ago now find themselves in the arbitration award, the ruling that came down which resolved the illegal walkout and the occupation of the Prince Mine. Yes, the people of Cape Breton took the action of an illegal strike and an occupation of the mine, but to their very great credit they were reasonable enough to say that they would end the occupation if the government put the matter to binding arbitration.
They were confident that their argument had enough merit that an objective outside third party would see the merit in their arguments, would agree and would rule with them. It takes great courage for people to throw their future into the laps of an outside third party, which they did.
We are pleased to say that in very recent days this arbitration ruling came down. I believe it was on Friday, June 2. Ironically, that was the third anniversary of the election which saw every Liberal member of parliament summarily kicked out of Nova Scotia due to gross dissatisfaction. The ruling came down with almost word for word what the Cape Breton miners had asked for originally and what the members from Cape Breton have been saying would be a fair and just award in terms of pension settlement, in terms of long term support for those who will be displaced, in terms of representation on boards of directors for any institution that might replace the Cape Breton Development Corporation.
There is some satisfaction in that, but there is still a huge sadness and a huge disappointment for the people of Cape Breton that it took civil disobedience and direct action to get this satisfaction.
It speaks to the absolute arrogance and almost punitive kind of indifference, almost a malice toward the people of Cape Breton, that the government made them go to those degrees, to take those steps, to go to those measures to get what should have been theirs to begin with. Even still the arbitration award does not adequately speak to the whole philosophical shift on behalf of the Liberal Party, that Liberal members no longer feel any responsibility toward any region outside central Canada.
I did not come here to fight about western alienation, but the longer I am here I certainly sense how alienated I am as a westerner. I can only sympathize with my colleagues from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia or any region outside the golden triangle who may feel that the Liberal government has abandoned them.