Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the President of the Treasury Board explain the government's rationale for bringing in this draconian measure.
I listened carefully to the President of the Treasury Board. He used language such as “public servants deserve better”, “proactive”, “good faith” and “fairness”. What Canadians were looking for yesterday was the bringing together of people to deal with the economic crisis.
A perfect example of what we got instead is the elimination of the right to strike until 2011. It is incredible and incredulous that the government would bring this in at the same time as saying that it wanted to be fair.
I want to ask the President of the Treasury Board, if he is so concerned about fairness and equity, why bring in these draconian measures on the one hand while saying the government is trying to work together with public servants on the other? Does he not get that that is contradictory, that it is divide and rule?