Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity to enter the debate. Four minutes is not a lot of time. I will pick one area and see if I can get into a second one.
One particular area I would address is an issue that runs as a thread through the whole bill. We are talking about the RCMP in our communities, but we are also talking about the RCMP as a workplace where ordinary Canadians are workers in that workplace. One of the biggest issues facing us is workplace sexual harassment allegations. This is huge. The bill is dealing with both aspects of a police officer's life, that of being an officer in the workplace of policing and also being out in our communities, in the uniform, protecting our citizens on a day-to-day basis.
I want to address one of the things the Conservatives absolutely refuse to do. Even though they always say that they are the ones who will stand the straightest and salute the most to anyone in uniform, the true reality is that one of the things the RCMP would like is the option to decide for themselves whether or not they would like to unionize. I know the reaction that gets from the government, so we will set that aside. However, it is also fair to say there are a lot of ordinary people who would say that we have a quasi-military structure where command and control is a key component, so unionization could not work.
That is why I want to address this. During my time as the Ontario solicitor general, I was the civilian head of the OPP, but the OPP is unionized. That is why I am raising this, because I worked with that union on a day-to-day basis. As in most complicated, complex workplaces, having a union was a help. It ensured that the officers had the ability to be protected in terms of their rights as workers, and that includes sexual harassment allegations. Contrary to what the government says, the labour movement in Canada is one of the most democratic institutions in the entire world. If the officers do not like the representation they have in the union, those officers have the option of changing their leadership.
One of the things that would make a big difference in terms of respecting policing, respecting police officers and, in this case, RCMP officers, is to give them the right to choose. They may decide not to. That is their right, but give them the option so that like every other worker, if they want to come together and bargain collectively under the laws of Canada, they would have that right. We have always supported that and when we form government, we will give the RCMP that option to exercise their rights under the constitution.
The last thing, if I can very quickly, is that the government has refused to have a truly independent “no police investigating police” as we do in Ontario with the SIU, the Special Investigations Unit. I had a lot of involvement with the SIU, and it is far from being perfect. However, as a protection for not just the public but also police officers, it has been a very useful, positive, progressive entrance into policing in Ontario. We would certainly encourage the government—and if it will not, we will do it when we get there—to make sure that kind of independent evaluation and investigation is done. Therefore, when someone is cleared, they are truly cleared and there are no clouds. However, if action needs to be taken, that can be taken.
That is the kind of policing we believe in here in Canada. That is the kind of RCMP we will have under an NDP government.
