Mr. Speaker, two days ago the Ontario Tory government showed contempt for workers' rights, for Ontario farm workers in particular and for the Supreme Court of Canada when it introduced a law the falls seriously short of allowing farm workers to form a union. An association is just not good enough.
The federal government should call on the Ontario government to respect the ruling of the Supreme Court and allow farm workers to unionize. At the same time, the federal government should get its own house in order by ratifying the international convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families.
Migrant workers are brought to this country by the federal government and should be treated with respect by the federal government. Turning a blind eye to the Ontario decision, failing to ratify the international convention and continuing to collect EI premiums from migrant workers who have no chance of ever collecting it shows a lack of concern for farm workers about which the Liberals should be embarrassed.