Mr. Speaker, the hon. member knows that CN is basically an American-run company now. In fact, a few years ago its website stated that the word Canadian could not be used in the term CN. The member is correct that there have been problems within the international arm of the union. It is an American-run union. It is an American-run company and an American-run union with American-style problems.
The reality is that these problems existed in the past. The government is fully aware of that. The date of a contract or a collective agreement ends at a particular time. Everybody knows that. If it is so vital for the minister to introduce back to work legislation now, why has the government not been proactive? Why did it not see this impasse coming and do something to coordinate the two parties long before this action took place?
The government is being reactive, not proactive, in this particular initiative. If the government knew this was coming, what was it prepared to do? Or was the government caught off guard, as always, about this vital link in our economy?