House of Commons Hansard #129 of the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was workers.

Topics

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Kellie Leitch Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Madam Speaker, as I mentioned yesterday, the Minister of Labour has been listening, and not just listening to the big union bosses who I know the opposition members like to listen to, but listening to Canadians and what they want and need, which is a growing economy and their jobs protected.

We know there is a ripple effect associated with the stoppage at CP Rail. We know that there is a huge impact on the global economy with respect to this issue. I ask the NDP to support this legislation and let us get CP Rail working again so that those people working in my riding at Honda can go to work.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

NDP

Matthew Kellway NDP Beaches—East York, ON

Madam Speaker, my colleague referred to a pathology that is emerging here. We note today and before we went on break the effort at the public accounts committee to shut down debate on the F-35 investigation. This seems to be repeating itself over and over again in the government's conduct. Could the parliamentary secretary explain the source of this pathology to us?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Kellie Leitch Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON

Madam Speaker, as a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, I would not say that this is a pathology. This is actually the answer, the diagnosis and treatment to a problem that exists.

Let us be very clear, the treatment here is making sure that the rails are running. We are doing that by taking action on behalf of the Canadian public and in the public interest.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:25 p.m.

Outremont Québec

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDPLeader of the Opposition

Madam Speaker, today, like many people in this room, I have a certain sense of déjà vu because it was almost exactly one year ago today that our former leader, Jack Layton, stood in this House under very similar circumstances. He stood to oppose this government's special legislation to force locked-out Canada Post workers—and it is important to note that they were locked out—back to work. It is important to note that they were locked out because it is this government that locked them out in the first place.

There is a word for this in the jargon of collective bargaining and labour law. It is a term that is part of everyday language but that has a specific meaning in matters pertaining to labour relations, and that is “bad faith”.

There has rarely been such a blatant example of bad faith on the part of a government than in this case. Let us not forget what happened. The government took a look at the Canada Post workers who were doing their jobs and imposed a lockout on them to prevent them from working. Then the Conservatives cried, “Oh, my goodness; the postal workers have stopped working. What are we going to do? We have to legislate them back to work.”

And that is how this exercise came about, one that illustrates the Conservatives' strong tendency, since taking office, to violate collective rights, attack workers and use any means at the disposal of their majority to send a clear signal to employers. The signal is that it is open season on workers' rights. Employers should not let themselves be tricked. Collective agreements, the Supreme Court, the rights guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms—all those exist for another day. The Conservatives are here to impose law and order and it is open season for employers. That is the message that the Conservatives are sending.

After Canada Post came Air Canada. They did not even need to draw their weapons this time because the reaction was so immediate. They were winning their bet. Today, it is CP Rail.

That was three pieces of back-to-work legislation from this government in this session of Parliament alone: three special bills passed in a mad rush in less than 12 months.

Let us now compare that to what has happened in recent years and we will understand the difference and the message that the Conservatives are trying to send. Only nine back-to-work bills were passed in all of the 1990s, and only six in all of the 1980s, when the Conservatives were mainly in power. We can see how disproportionate this is. The Conservatives are at three bills in 12 months. As my friend and colleague, the official opposition House leader, just said, the Conservatives have imposed gag orders and used a guillotine to cut off debate and prevent parliamentarians from speaking about subjects as important as the budget over 20 times. This demonstrates the Conservatives' strong tendency to muzzle, gag and silence the elected representatives of the people here in this House.

There is much more at stake here today than the CP Rail dispute. Yes, there was the Air Canada dispute. Yes, there was the Canada Post dispute. But what we are seeing here is a defining element of the Conservative approach to lower the standard of living for every single Canadian.

There has been example after example since the Conservatives came to power of lowering the standard of living of Canadians. This is the first generation where we have seen the middle class start to lose. Over the past 25 years the earnings of the top 20% in our society have increased, a tendency that we have observed throughout the history of the country, but for the other 80%, living conditions, wages, the middle class has actually seen that drop.

It is the first time in Canadian history we have observed that, and it is a heavy tendency. It is one that we keep observing. It is a series of actions by the government, and by today's attack on collective bargaining rights, on labour rights, on rights that are reserved and guaranteed by the charter, reserved and guaranteed and enforced by the courts, the Conservatives are again attacking workers and their rights in this country.

Some of the choices that the Conservatives have made over the years have resulted in the pressures that they now say they need to react to by cutting everything in the budget. For example, if we look at employment insurance, people are told to take a 30% pay cut, ship themselves a couple of hours out of town and take any job that presents itself, otherwise they will lose their right to collect the employment insurance that they paid into with their own money and their employers paid into.

Do members remember in 2009 when the Conservatives double closed the door that the Liberals had already closed, which had already gone all the way to the Supreme Court, when they emptied out $50 billion from the employment insurance account? They turned that into general revenue of the government. A lot of people said that it was government money before and that it was government money now and asked what that changed. Here is what it changed. The $50 billion in question was paid into the employment insurance account by every employee for a specific purpose: to take care of them during the cyclical ups and downs of the economy; and it was paid into by every employer. Whether employers were earning a good profit, breaking even or losing money, they still had to pay into it for every employee.

When the Liberals emptied out the EI account, they created a $50 billion fiscal space. What became of that $50 billion fiscal space? It was turned into tax reductions for the richest corporations. The Conservatives do not like it when we say “for the richest corporations“. They will argue that it is for all corporations. Let us look at the facts. A company that was breaking even or losing money certainly did not benefit from a tax reduction because it was not paying any.

In these tough economic times, especially for any export sector, including the fisheries, the forestry and manufacturing, a lot of them were losing money or barely breaking even. The money they had paid in was for a specific purpose: to provide insurance in case of unemployment. When the 2008 crisis hit, that cupboard was bare and it had been emptied because that money had been turned over to the wealthiest corporations, like the banks and the oil companies. That is the record of the Conservatives and the Liberals and that is why the NDP is standing up today and saying that it has to stop.

With their decisions, the Conservatives are disrupting the balance of the economy that we have built up since the Second World War. Countries such as Norway, like us, are resource-rich. However, they have learned to deal with the challenges this represents. We have not been as wise: we have engaged in the unbridled development of natural resources, without applying the basic principle of polluter pay. This is disrupting the balance of the economy that we have built up since the Second World War.

There was a time when Canadians from Langley to St. John's could count on a decent job with adequate wages to support their families. They could also count on a pension that let them retire with dignity and on an accessible employment insurance system. Not anymore.

At a conference attended by billionaires held in the Swiss Alps, our Prime Minister decided to do some grandstanding and show that he too would do some boasting and lecture the least fortunate. He would announce that even though they had worked all their lives in construction or had worked hard in a factory, he did not believe that they had worked hard enough and he would make them work two more years and would take $12,000 out of their pockets because he believed that they were not productive enough.

At the same time, he eliminated those jobs and employment opportunities for the younger generation. This younger generation is already paying the biggest environmental, economic and social debt in history. Today, university students in Canada borrow an average of $30,000 to complete an undergraduate degree.

At what point are young couples who are already $60,000 in debt when they start their careers supposed to buy a house? This is what happens when the government's economic ability to support post-secondary education is eliminated. The government creates the situation and decries it, just as it did in the Canada Post lockout. It creates the situation and says that it can no longer help because there is no more money. What did it do with the money? It gave the money to corporations that do not create jobs. The Royal Bank of Canada did not create any jobs last year.

Last year, federally chartered banks in Canada made $30 billion in profit. They gave $15 billion in bonuses to their executives. That is what they did with the money. They did not create jobs.

At least the NDP has a vision: if there is fiscal room available, we will direct it to companies that create jobs. That is what a government is supposed to do.

The government is trying to tell Canadians that we need to accept less, that we should accept lower wages and weaker pensions. They are trying to create for employers an unlimited pool of cheap labour. It is commonplace and it is almost a caricature but it was the Minister of Human Resources last week, in response to a question in a press conference, who specifically cited the creation of workers for McDonalds. It is not a hyperbole on the part of the opposition. That is what she actually said. One of the ministers responsible for finance said “Well, of course if a teacher is looking for a job in Newfoundland, we have jobs in the mines”. This is their philosophy. This is money that belongs to the workers. The Conservatives think it belongs to McDonalds and they are creating a system for employers and evacuating workers rights.

This special legislation forcing workers back on the job despite the collective bargaining process is just a fuller illustration of exactly what they are up to: lowering workers rights, lowering the ability of the middle-class to pay for itself and evacuating the capacity of the government to provide services. That is the agenda of the Conservatives.

It is important to note that the Conservatives are not just affecting any one union or any one group of people but all Canadians. That is the Conservative vision. Under their policies, we are becoming the first generation that will leave less to our children than what we inherited from our parents. The New Democrats will not let that happen.

Collective bargaining is guaranteed by the charter and by the Supreme Court of Canada. Collective bargaining benefits all Canadians with better wages, workplace safety, a 40-hour work week, a weekend where workers can actually be with their families and the list goes on. However, the Conservatives are determined to dismantle it. They are undermining this right and it is unprecedented in Canada.

For Air Canada, the government did not even wait for a strike to begin to bring in legislation. It did not bother to allow a negotiated settlement to happen. The labour minister says that she will intervene in any dispute she feels impacts the economy. The last time I checked, every working Canadian contributes to the economy, period. That basically means no more rights.

The minister is saying that no labour negotiation is safe from Conservative interference. The approach is unbalanced, it is heavy-handed, it is against the charter and it will be enforced but it will take time. Taking sides helps no one. It sends a terrible message that legislative settlement is the new labour relations norm in Canada. There is no incentive for the parties to negotiate in good faith if they know the government will step in. What possible incentive do employers have to bargain in good faith with their employees when they receive a clear signal from the government that it will bring in back-to-work legislation, as we saw with Canada Post and as we are seeing again? They can just fold their arms and wait until the employees are forced back to work. They do not care. Of course, the government does not care either but it is willing to do the bidding of any employer that asks. That is what we are here standing up against today.

The government is creating a slippery slope where no one will get a fair deal. Canadians relied on collective bargaining rights for decades. The government must respect the right of future generations to live with the same security past generations have had. What we are leaving our children is a defining issue of our times. As I mentioned, the middle-class is struggling like never before with income disparity levels not seen since the Great Depression. We are one of the richest countries in the world and yet we are one of the countries with the greatest disparity between the rich and the poor.

It is worth noting that, in Canada, the gap between the wealthy in our society and the least fortunate is among the largest in the world and has only gotten wider since the Conservatives took office. We have not seen this since the depression in the 1920s. The security Canadians once felt is starting to vanish. This is not by chance; it is by design.

Look at what is happening in the Saguenay with Rio Tinto. When Rio Tinto bought Alcan, it did not just buy plants. This foreign corporation became the owner of the Saguenay riverbed. Think about it. When foreign entities take this type of control over a Canadian corporation there has to be a net benefit to Canada. That is mandated by law. By the way, assessments used to be done automatically at a certain level, but now the government is raising that level to $1 billion.

Things that used to be assessed will no longer be. But let us look at what they have done. Even when they were doing assessments, they ticked off the box “net benefit to Canada” for the takeover of Alcan by Rio Tinto. What happened?

European authorities responsible for competition asked companies to divest themselves of their highly specialized metal production. No problem, they sold it off to an American. What happened next? The Americans flipped it to an Indian multinational. Then, they said things were not very good there and they moved to the United States. Jobs were lost overnight and there was no protection for the workers. Such is the Conservatives' attitude.

Just look at what is happening. Employees are still locked out at Rio Tinto in Alma. What do the Conservatives care? To them, this is like a warning. The barbarians arrive. They destroy the village. They leave the people at the entrance to the village and tell them to look closely at what is on the horizon and to get used to it. That is what they are doing: dismantling and destroying decades, generations of protections that help society as a whole, by dismantling our entire system of protecting social rights and workers' rights.

We need to look at the Conservative net benefit. We have just looked at Rio Tinto Alcan in Alma in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region where workers have been on lockout for six months. Is that a net benefit for Canada to have everybody locked out? The Conservatives approved the takeover of Inco by Brazil's Vale in 2006. Vale proposed in 2009 to end defined benefit pensions for new employees. Then the USWA goes on strike and it lasts nearly one year. That is the future for workers under the Conservatives.

A Swiss-based mining company, Xstrata, absorbed Falconbridge in 2006. The takeover deal said “no layoffs for three years”. In 2009, Xstrata laid off 700 people and 700 families lost their living because they did not understand that a net benefit meant not just a net benefit for the shareholders but also a net benefit for the families that work there.

I have one of the best illustrations of the Conservatives' approach. I will start with a reference to what happened during the 2011 general election. Our current Prime Minister went out and visited the lovely company in London, Ontario called Electro-Motive Diesel. He used it as a backdrop. He used it as a model. As a matter of fact, since there was nothing that the Conservatives would not do during the election, they touted a $5 million tax break with no strings attached. The company did not need to create any work and it could t take the $5 million. That is what he did during the 2011 election campaign.

A U.S. company called Caterpillar had bought Electro-Motive Diesel in 2010. What happened in the months that followed? In January 2012, 450 Electro-Motive Diesel employees were locked out. Why? It was because they were being unreasonable. They were only being asked to take a 50% pay cut. After all, the company had been given $5 million and it was only asking for 50%, otherwise it must have been 60% it had been thinking of.

In February 2012, just a few months ago, the plant closed and the operation moved. What a net benefit for Canada.

The government announced plans last week to raise takeover review to $1 billion, and there will be even more reckless foreign takeovers that will fly under the radar. Other working Canadians are forced to fight for their pension funds that they paid into for their golden years.

I remember when the Prime Minister stood up and said he would not touch pensions. That is one of my favourite tricks of this government. The Prime Minister said he would not touch pensions. When they added two years of work and subtracted $12,000, the Minister of Finance stood up and said:

“We said that we would not touch pensions. We never said that we would not touch old age security”, as if for the average Canadian it was not one in the same thing, their revenue when they were going to retire.

Unprecedented attacks on workers, unprecedented attacks on the middle-class, that is the legacy of the Conservatives and that is why we are here standing up today.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:45 p.m.

Liberal

Rodger Cuzner Liberal Cape Breton—Canso, NS

Madam Speaker, the leader of the official opposition will be familiar with past history and back-to-work legislation that has been presented in this chamber.

Through some of the government's interventions today, we find that it tries to blur the line between legislation that was presented in 1995 and its actions today with this back-to-work legislation.

In 1995, when VIA, CN and CP were all in the midst of a labour dispute and rail had ground to a halt, the Liberal government brought forward back-to-work legislation and the NDP supported that legislation.

Could the leader share with people watching this debate at home what the difference is between 1995 and now?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Madam Speaker, we have never before seen a government develop and deliver such a concerted attack on workers' rights. It is systematic. Our vision is to build a Canada where no one is left behind, where we leave more for future generations, not less, where we talk about what we can accomplish, not what we cannot do.

The Conservatives are all about being negative, that we should not be doing this, that we should chop the size of government, that we cannot afford this. They are removing some of the extraordinary programs and services and ideas and institutions we have built up that are a reflection of our fundamental goodness as a people, our specificity as a nation. That is why we say that all of those values will be defended by the New Democratic Party. That is our vision for the future verses theirs.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:50 p.m.

Nepean—Carleton Ontario

Conservative

Pierre Poilievre ConservativeParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport

Madam Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition consistently attacks Canadian business and its profitability. At the same time, he puts his hand on heart and claims that he wants to protect the pensions of the workers who are invested in those very same companies. I will give the House one example.

The member mentioned Canada Post. The first five top holdings in the Canada Post pension plan are all banks and oil companies, every one of them. All of the returns therefore that are paid to those unionized mail deliverers come out of the after tax profits of banks and oil companies.

When he tries to divide businesses against workers, he might learn that in our modern economy, in many cases, they are the same people. Workers, through their pension funds, own businesses. His proposed tax increases on those businesses would not only suppress jobs in the business, but would suppress the returns for the pension funds he has claimed he wants to protect.

How does the member reconcile that obvious mathematical contradiction?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Madam Speaker, it will surprise my colleague when he hears me say that I actually for once agree with something the Conservatives say. The Prime Minister thinks it is unfair that only union members should have a guaranteed benefit pension. We agree with him, because everybody should have a right to a guaranteed benefit pension.

Instead of doing like he does, which is always seeking the lowest common denominator to seeking what we cannot do, our vision is to provide the best government we can, develop programs that see people to their retirement and the ability to live with dignity. Why? Not only do they deserve it after a lifetime of work, but it is good for the economy that retired people are able to take part in that economy.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to ask a question following on the wonderful speech by my leader, the member for Outremont and leader of the official opposition, who has described the situation very accurately.

I think that in his speech he has shown the House the trajectory, the direction, being taken by the Conservatives. They are putting downward pressure on working conditions and living conditions for families in Quebec and Canada. That is unacceptable to the NDP.

I would like to ask the member for Outremont whether he thinks the Conservatives are altering the broader framework of collective bargaining. With Canada Post, with two cases involving Air Canada, and now with Canadian Pacific, are they not attacking the freedom to bargain, a principle that is protected by the Charter of Rights and that the NDP stands up for?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Madam Speaker, yes, and this is not some utopian fantasy; it is a right guaranteed by the charter that has been consistently enforced by the Supreme Court over the years.

I want to step outside the frame of labour relations for a moment and talk about a related subject, the behaviour of the government. We will all remember the extraordinary job done in Vancouver by my colleague, the deputy leader of the NDP, to get a safe injection site.

The Conservatives wanted nothing to do with it. For ideological reasons, they said it was nonsense and we could not have it. In a decision that was unprecedented in the history of Canadian jurisprudence, the Supreme Court lectured the Conservative government and told it that it could not base its decisions on an ideology, on superstition or on Conservative articles of faith. No, it had to base them on something that is foreign to the Conservatives: facts and evidence. Therein lies the difference.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON

Madam Speaker, I will briefly follow up on the question the Leader of the Opposition was asked by the Liberal Party. I thought it was an excellent question, however, we did not get an answer.

I would like to know, and I think most Canadians would like to know, if the NDP has supported back-to-work legislation in the past with the organization. When does the Leader of the Opposition believe it is time for the government to act for all Canadians and that he would support? Is it after a week, or two weeks or six months of nothing happening in terms of commercial rail activity? Would the NDP tell Canadians when it would finally act on their behalf?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Mr. Speaker, the difference in the point of view between the member who just spoke and us is that we actually believe it is in the interest of all Canadians to have a system of labour negotiations, a system of labour rights. We believe that is in everyone's interest.

The difference between what exists with his government and any other situation that has existed before in the history of Canada is now we have a government that is sending such a clear signal to employers, “Don't even make an effort. Don't even talk”.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON

They made an effort. They were at it for weeks.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Before Air Canada even went out, the Conservatives had special legislation. They has it before they even started discussions. What possible interest is there for any employer to negotiate in good faith? There is none.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

Some hon. members

Oh, oh!

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. I would like a little order.

The hon. Leader of the Opposition has the floor and he would like to respond to the question.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

Madam Speaker, I could not hear the exact words, but I just took it as an encouragement to continue.

This has never before happened in the history of Canada, that the Parliament of Canada is used as a management tool. We are not management tools. We are here to represent and stand up for all Canadians, including the workers' rights. That is what we are doing.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Robert Chisholm NDP Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

Madam Speaker, what does the Leader of the Opposition think it says about a government that is so prepared to take away the rights of working people, the rights of senior citizens, the rights of people who want a protected and clean environment, the rights of people who want a protected and sustainable fishery? What does he think it says about a government that is prepared to trample all Canadians' rights?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Thomas Mulcair NDP Outremont, QC

It is a question of vision, Madam Speaker. Ours is a vision of a sustainable future, where we respect the rights of future generations. Theirs is a vision of how we can do less. The Conservatives are always removing things.

Fifty years ago, it was decided in the country that no family would ever have to decide between having their sick child seen by a doctor and putting groceries on the table.

In a meeting with the finance minister, before Christmas, $31 billion was taken out of the proposed funding for medicare. That is the type of institution the Conservatives are dismantling. They are dismantling workers' rights. They are dismantling all of the good things we have built up over the generations.

We are going to stand up against that and we are going to stand up for a future for—

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

NDP

The Deputy Speaker NDP Denise Savoie

Order, please. Resuming debate, the hon. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

4:55 p.m.

Battlefords—Lloydminster Saskatchewan

Conservative

Gerry Ritz ConservativeMinister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board

Madam Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to stand today and split my time with my colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.

I am pleased to speak today in support of this act before us to provide for the continuation and resumption of rail service operations.

Let us look at this dispute from the perspective of Canadian farmers across our great country. Whenever the government intervenes in a labour dispute, and we have seen flights of fantasy from the other side in this argument today, the members on the opposite side will always accuse us of acting too hastily. There were a number of things offered to the management and union, such as another 120 days of arbitration and months leading us up to this point, which was all to no avail. However, when I hear the rhetoric coming from the members opposite, there are no answers to the hard questions.

I ask the Liberal member for Wascana this. How long should farmers wait? Should we wait until the hard-won gains that our country has made in digging out from the economic downturn are lost?

I ask the NDP member for Winnipeg Centre this. Should we wait until the canola piles up across the Prairies?

I ask the NDP agricultural critic from Quebec this. Should we wait until our red meat buyers around the world change suppliers?

I ask the NDP member for Welland this. Should we wait until Canada's world-class brand as a top quality food supplier is ruined?

Last, I ask the Liberal member for Guelph this. Does he think we should wait until farmers' delivery contracts are broken and we are facing punitive action?

The answers are loud and clear. Canadian farmers will not wait any longer for a resolution. Canadians want decisive action. That is what we are doing here today. They want Parliament to do what is necessary for the overall good of the Canadian economy. Canadian farmers and processors did not cause this dispute, but they are the ones who will ultimately pay the price. They will pay because of the economic repercussions of CP Rail grinding to a halt. They will pay not just in terms of financial costs, but also what it does to Canada's reputation as a trading nation. We are talking about an industry that last year accounted for over $44 billion of our exports and one in eight jobs in our country.

Canada's world-class grain industry is a powerful engine of our economy, bringing $16 billion back to the farm gate. Canadian grain farmers are well into their marketing plans for this year's crop. They have orders to fill around the world and are heavily dependent on the railways to move that product to market. They have just incurred huge costs for seed, fertilizer, fuel and other inputs needed to put a crop in the ground and those bills will be due soon. They count on delivering their grain at this time of year to build cashflow. Across Canada many producers and processors export up to 85% of their production.

I cannot overstate the urgency of resolving this labour stoppage for the hard-working men and women who put food on our tables and tables around the world. We all know our rail-based logistics system is complex. It involves a range of stakeholders from the railways themselves to shippers, terminal operators, transloaders, ports, shipping lines and trucks, all part of a global supply chain. In this global supply chain that is so interconnected, any glitch or work stoppage affects the whole system. For a trading nation such as Canada, it is key that all players in the supply chain provide efficient and effective service to strengthen our economic performance.

Farmers are asking us to act and to act now. The Canola Council of Canada wrote to the government to express its concern. It said, “As an industry that depends heavily on rail transport for both exports and domestic processing, any work stoppage will have a crippling effect on canola farmers, processors, crushers and exporters served exclusively by CPR”.

This is another quote, this time from the Grain Growers of Canada, which said, “No grain shipments means no grain sales means no cash back into farmers' pockets states”.

The CEO of the Canadian Wheat Board said, “We rely completely on two railways, CN and CP, to move this grain to port from the Prairies, and there are no alternative shipping methods”.

Ian White added that there was $50 million worth of grain sitting in elevators on the Prairies instead of moving to the ports, including Vancouver where six boats were waiting. He said that grain shipments on another eight were on their way in.

Norm Hall, president of the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, said, “We cannot truck our grain to export positions...We don’t have the trucks available, we don’t have the highway system available...so we've only got railroads”.

The Minister of Labour took the appropriate action to assist the parties in an attempt to reach a negotiated settlement. She worked with the parties toward this negotiated settlement.

Our government believes in the principles of free collective bargaining. We have offered all of the resources of the federal mediation and conciliation service to CP Rail and the union.

We firmly believe that negotiated agreements are still the best possible outcome. Unfortunately, the elements needed to make that happen are nowhere in sight and the clock is ticking for our farmers.

Our farmers cannot control the weather, but this is one risk we can help them to manage. Our farmers cannot access new markets if they cannot get their product to existing markets. The sheer size of our land mass means that Canadian farmers depend on rail service more than in many other countries. With strong prices and demand for our farmers' world-class products, the last thing they need is a rail disruption. Today's global marketplace is just too competitive for our farmers to run the risk of not getting their product to market and losing those good quality customers.

I call on all members of the House to support this motion and to support this bill. Specifically, I call on the member for Wascana to stop playing politics with rail. He howls about a rail review to help farmers. Here is a real chance for him to help farmers, and he goes silent. That is shameful.

They supported back-to-work legislation for CN in 2007. I wonder what has changed today.

Canadians can be proud they have a government that is making sure our economy is not jeopardized by risky union tactics. Sadly, we also have an opposition that will never understand agriculture, given that it recently attacked the red meat sector and recklessly claimed that processors would use roadkill in their facilities. We all know the opposition will not stop trying to divide Canadians by attacking Canada's responsible resource development.

Hopefully today all opposition members realize the importance of rail for agriculture and for the overall Canadian economy.

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

5:05 p.m.

NDP

Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC

Madam Speaker, I suppose a question that is very important for the government to answer at this point is that it must demonstrate the panic button that is forcing it, as its members claim, to shut down debate on any of these questions. We have had two of these motions today. The Conservatives seem to be in some sort of effort to break records when it comes to shutting down democratic free and fair debate in this country.

Does the minister not feel at all that the government in fact poisoned the well in these negotiations? Less than 10 hours into the strike mandate the government produced back-to-work legislation. The employer knew this in advance.

How is this not a cynical effort by government in this negotiation and in all future ones to do two things: to send a clear and precise message to employers that free and fair collective bargaining is not important to them anymore, a right that is constitutionally protected, as has been clearly outlined by our leader; second, to send a message to Canadians and Parliament that debate is no longer a problem with which the government is going to have to occupy itself, because it will just shut it down?

The government has invoked closure and censure on Parliament 23 times since being elected to a majority, breaking all records. I do not understand how the minister, who comes from a party that had a history against such moves, seems so comfortable with this process and this procedure.

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5:05 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

In this case, Madam Speaker, we are looking for practical, pragmatic decisions not political gains. This costs almost $100 million a day to the overall Canadian economy. I just outlined some of the things with regard to agriculture but, of course, there are a lot of other industries, right from car parts to whole cars, to beef, to all sorts of things moving by rail, and at almost $100 million a day, how many hours and how many days do those people want to chat while this all goes down the drain?

As a government, we offered CP Rail and the union another 120 days of arbitration to make sure they had time to move this forward. The union said no, so we are standing very solidly here. We will continue to move ahead on the side of the Canadian economy.

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5:05 p.m.

Liberal

Frank Valeriote Liberal Guelph, ON

Madam Speaker, my question for the minister is this. For years now, farmers have been held hostage by the rail companies, and the minister is well aware of it. The rail service review disclosed that fact, talked of remedies, and yet for a full year the minister has been comatose when it comes to responding to the needs of farmers. Now, suddenly, he is up in his seat supporting an immediate resolution to this disruption of service.

Why would he not give the same attention to the rail service review and honour farmers and the needs they have expressed to him time and time again by bringing that review to a conclusion?

Government Business No. 12Continuation and Resumption of Rail Service Operations LegislationGovernment Orders

5:05 p.m.

Conservative

Gerry Ritz Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Of course, Madam Speaker, we did exactly that in Agriculture Canada. We put together a subset under the Transport Canada umbrella led by Jim Dinning, the crop logistics working group, co-chaired by my deputy minister and Gordon Bacon of the Canadian Special Crops Association. They held hearings with all the affected industries. They were looking for efficiencies and effective handling agreements for all aspects of that value chain.

The railways are a major part of that, and we are working toward that conclusion and we will have tools in the toolbox moving forward for farmers to make use of very son. However, if the member is in such a hurry, he has the opportunity today to prove to farmers that he is on their side, in their camp, and get those trains moving again and get that $50 million worth of grain off the Prairies, into the Vancouver port and onto those boats. Why will he not do that?