Mr. Speaker, that is not correct. With respect, the hon. member has a misunderstanding about how private enterprises, small businesses, work. Nobody is going to tell me that the little hardware store in my village is somehow directed by the people who sell it lawnmowers and who are based in Kitchener, Ontario or wherever. That is ridiculous.
For him to pretend that small businesses in his riding are subservient that way, I do not know what he will do the next time there is a dinner of the chamber of commerce, or if a representative from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business visits the hon. member. That is not an accurate representation of the reality.
I have met with the national labour unions over the issue of this bill. I had a meeting in my office here. My staff and the experts who drafted the bill had further meetings with them. We have totally discussed this issue. For the hon. member to say that small independent businesses in the country are somehow the equivalent of either branches of a bank, vis-à-vis head office, or branches of a labour union being a local, is not accurate as a representation, and I do not think anybody seriously believes that is the same.