Mr. Speaker, I respect my colleague's passionate plea for the modernization of the Canada Labour Code. It is important that the code reflect a modern workforce in the situation in which we find ourselves here in this country.
The member asked for the support of the House, but the House has learned especially over the course of the last four years under Conservative rule that if we are going to change the Canada Labour Code, it has to be done under a tripartite, consensus-building process, one that has been accepted over the years. In the last four years we have heard loud and clear from the two major stakeholders in the labour code, the CLC and FETCO.
I would like to read into the record comments from Hassan Yussuff, the president of the CLC under testimony against C-377 and C-525. He said, “We urge the federal government to stop the introduction of one-off changes to the Canada Labour Code. Amendments should not be made through private members' bills.
John Farrell of FETCO said, “This critical consultation process is completely bypassed when changes to the labour relations regime are proposed through a mechanism of one-off private members' bills.”
The member's own colleague, Wayne Marston, the former member from Hamilton, said that he believes it is irresponsible for a government to allow private members' bills to amend the Canada Labour Code, and that amendments should actually be done by a government bill, not by a private member's bill.
Could I get comments from my colleague on that?