Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to the third group of motions, Motions Nos. 13, 14 and 15. I am going to continue the speech I started earlier to some extent.
A look at the history of Devco reveals that coal has been mined on Cape Breton Island for 300 years. At its peak, the Cape Breton coal industry employed over 17,000 individuals. During the first and second world wars, Cape Breton's coal and steel were vital to the Allied war effort.
Following the second world war, the coal and steel industry declined significantly. In 1965, only 6,500 miners were left, and the remaining mines had to close. The Cape Breton Development Corporation was established under an act of parliament in 1967 as a crown corporation in order to acquire and streamline the Cape Breton coal mining industry and to create alternate jobs, through the government and the development of industry. Devco was to take stock and gradually cut out coal mining while creating new jobs through local economic development.
However, the federal government decided to begin developing new mines in order to meet energy needs following the OPEC crisis and with the rise in the price of oil in the early 1970s.
In 1980, the number of jobs dropped to 4,300 miners and the number has continued to drop since then, because of developments in technology. Since 1992, only two mines have been in operation, the Prince and the Phalen mines. In January 1999, the federal government announced it was withdrawing from the coal industry and that is would close the Phalen mine by the end of 2000, would begin the process of selling the Prince mine and would dismantle the crown corporation.
In the context of a 300 year case history like this one, I really want to explain what a miner is. The Liberal member said “We are sending money and we have to pay for them. It is time to put a stop to that. These people must be able to fend for themselves”. That is almost the message they sent.
To be honest, I was insulted by that comment. As a former miner, I know what kind of work is involved. I worked underground. I know what miners did at Geco, in Manitouwadge, and I know what they do in Sudbury. I met these people.
I worked at Geco. I also worked at the Brunswick mine for 15 years. When I was working there and representing the unions, I had the opportunity to visit other mines. I went to Tucson, Arizona, where miners work underground. I am familiar with the work that these people perform. It is not easy work. A miner gets up at about 6 a.m. and begins his shift around 8 a.m.
I will tell a little story. Teachers from a nearby village came to visit our mine. They said “Miners are lucky, they are well-paid, perhaps too well”. That was the comment made by visitors before going down in the mine.
When these people put on miners' gear, heavy miners' safety boots, with battery-operated head lamps, shovels, coveralls, and protective helmets and went underground and walked on the rock face, and finished a four hour shift, what was their reaction? That miners were not paid enough. Four hours earlier, these same people were saying that miners were paid too much.
When I was a shop steward in the Brunswick mine, a foreman told us that we were not working in K-Mart. I agreed with him. It is true that they are not working in K-Mart. They are not working with Smarties and candies. They are working with rocks, and rocks can kill. Smarties do not kill people. It is perhaps not healthy to eat too much chocolate, but it does not kill people. It does not fall on their head and kill them.
Miners have to go underground, dig tunnels, blow up rock, and dig. They must prepare the ground. In the Brunswick mine, we buried six of our fellow workers in 18 months in 1976. That is not easy. In the Westray mine, they lost 26 of their co-workers underground; 11 of them are still buried there. That is not easy.
For 300 years, the people of Cape Breton have mined coal, and we see what they get today—uncertainty. They do not know what awaits them tomorrow. They do not know what awaits them in six months.
I am perhaps repeating what I said earlier, but it is important to tell Canadians over and over what the Liberals are doing to Cape Breton right now. The members for Sydney—Victoria and Bras D'Or—Cape Breton have explained to the House since the beginning how important it was for Cape Breton to try to save the jobs in the mines.
I saw the women of Cape Breton when they came here to meet with us. They had tears running down their cheeks because they did not know what would happen to their husbands should Bill C-11 be passed.
I can assure hon. members that a miner who works underground all day is dirtier than we are by the end of the day. It is not easy to be a miner. He has spent his day digging and setting explosive charges to get the mineral out of the ground. It is even worse for coal miners; they come out as black as coal. Imagine, if their bodies are that black, what about their lungs?
As I said earlier, it is not true that a miner 40 or 45 years old can easily find a job elsewhere. Coal mines are not all over the place.
Working in a coal mine is different from working in a zinc, copper or gold mine. The difference is between what is called hard rock mining and soft mining. They are not in the least the same.
It is not true that a miner who leaves Cape Breton to try to find a job in another mine is going to find one overnight. It is not true that there will be work the day after, because the Caribou mine in New Brunswick is closed, the Heath-Steele mine is closed and all the miners are out looking for work. There are no jobs today.
These are our people. The people of Bathurst, New Brunswick, Newcastle, Chatham, Petit-Rocher, Beresford, Caraquet, Tracadie, Shippagan, Saint-Isidore, Allardville, Saint-Sauveur and Robertville are still looking for work. Are the people of Cape Breton going to find it? This will be another surplus of unemployed miners. Mines do not open at the drop of a hat.
The federal government and the Liberals are saying “Let's catch the wave in the Atlantic. We have to garner votes. We lost all the seats in the Atlantic provinces”. If they want to gain the upper hand, it is time they looked after these miners, they provided something definite for them and they relieved them of the fear of having no money the next day to put food on the table.
Welfare is not the answer for miners who have served their country all their life, who have worked for years and years in coal mines in order to provide energy for Nova Scotia and part of our country. Treating them this way is unacceptable.
This is why we are saying to the government that it should be ashamed for refusing to send a parliamentary committee to meet these people and face the music.
Now that these points have been made, members must not forget who has spoken in the House this evening. The Liberals are certainly not trying to save the miners' jobs.