Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague has spent a good portion of his career sitting on the heritage committee.
For the folks back home so they can understand, outside of the House we have committees that are charged with certain responsibilities. The heritage committee, which has representation from the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party, works together to study issues that are germane to our cultural identity and our heritage.
When we heard this strike had passed four weeks, we began to ask ourselves questions. What is the state of these international artifacts? What is the state of these national treasures?
The management structure is not willing to sit down. As members of Parliament from various political parties, we felt there was an obligation to the Canadian public identity and to the taxpayer. We felt Parliament should call on management and have it sit down with an arbitrator so these national treasures could be maintained to the quality and the standard they deserve.