Mr. Speaker, the government should have used all the tools in its toolbox before coming to back-to-work legislation. It is obviously the hammer in that toolbox, and it is a tool that governments should be very hesitant to use.
As I have said numerous times, whether the government's intentions were good, whether it sat in on a number of meetings or not, the fact of the matter is that it did not get the job done. They have not yet reached a negotiated settlement. In fact, we are being told that in the last number of days, as the pressure has been released because of the threat of this back-to-work legislation, the prospects of a negotiated settlement have done nothing but decline. It is very unfortunate that the government failed to facilitate a negotiated settlement in this case.