Mr. Speaker, I would tell my hon. colleague that there were many other ways of dealing with this dispute. Special back-to-work legislation should be the last resort considered. I mentioned some other approaches in my address a little while ago. First, if there had been anti-scab legislation, there would have been a balance of forces and CN management would not have acted so arrogantly and with such little regard for its employees and their safety. Many other things should have been done in advance.
The Minister of Labour should also have shown leadership far earlier and ensured that the parties were talking to each other and, most importantly, that CN management showed some regard for the union representatives. It should have sat down at the bargaining table and negotiated seriously instead of thinking up some phoney strategy like hiring replacement workers and retired people to fill in for the striking workers and thereby merrily brushing them off.