Mr. Speaker, it is great for us to acknowledge the health and safety needs of workers, in particular the offshore and onshore workers, but we should not confuse that with a very strong federal initiative. This legislation is before us because provincial jurisdictions have already acted on the issue, and now there is more of an obligation on the federal government to bring forward legislation.
I have always thought the current government has not been proactive in dealing with health and labour issues. The member may want to comment on the fact that the government is not necessarily providing leadership on this issue but is responding to provincial governments' actions to date. He may want to add some comments on that aspect.