Mr. Speaker, I would like to put the same question to the hon. member and thank him for his speech on this important matter.
Two of the members on the opposite side, including the Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification have raised this bugbear of whether it is an essential service.
I wonder if the member would like to speak to the fact that if, on the one side the government does not believe that the transport of our goods across the country is important enough to protect those people who are producing bitumen, growing grain and shipping equipment east and west, why does the government feel it cannot intervene on that side to properly regulate, provide fair rates and equal access to fair service? However, on the other side it throws in the bugbear that if the rail workers should think maybe they are not being paid fairly or have proper pension plans and so forth, that is the time for the heavy hammer of government.