Mr. Speaker, the Quebec City airport is essential to Quebec City and the surrounding area, to its influence and economic development.
The employees of that airport have been without a collective agreement since November 2000, that is for more than one and a half years. They have been on strike since February 9, 2003. The union is negotiating in good faith in that it is prepared to go to arbitration on five problematical points. Unfortunately, the employer wants to submit only one of these to arbitration.
On March 17, following what has become his usual pattern, the Prime Minister met with the airport employees and promised he would intervene in the matter. Yet nothing has been done by the government. It treats us to the usual rhetoric and empty promises, but no concrete actions.
On April 1, I asked a question of the government, and the response by the Minister of Labour clearly indicated her total lack of knowledge of an issue as important as the strike at the Quebec City airport.
On April 15, again as evidence of its good faith, the union made new offers and submitted new proposals to the employer, but the employer has not deigned to respond, although that is more than ten days ago.
There is nothing surprising about this. I feel obliged to speak out against this government, which talks a good game, makes promises as the PM did on March 17 to the employees, but does absolutely nothing. Worse yet, not only do the Prime Minister and the Minister of Labour do nothing, but the Minister of Canadian Heritage, with ministerial responsibility for Quebec City area, does nothing either. Yet she ought to get involved and take a close look at what is going on, given how essential the Quebec City airport is to the city's influence, as I said.
Hon. members will no doubt agree that it is likely because the heritage minister is focussed more on election preparations for the sponsorship party than on paying any attention to the influence and economic development of Quebec City and working to settle this longstanding and constantly deteriorating situation.
It is unbelievable that an issue so essential to the Quebec City area could be so far below the radar as to be invisible to a government with but one obsession: when the election will be.