Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to hear from my good friend from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford.
Our Minister of Labour is the daughter of a steelworker, and this is the last option the government wanted to take. It is the last option she wanted to take. We essentially had no choice in the matter.
For those who say we rushed to judgment, last August we allowed a strike of 13 days to continue at the Port of Montreal. However, now, in this situation, there are critical issues with respect to COVID that have required us to make sure the operations at the port continue.
That being said, the employer has every incentive to reach an agreement, just as the employees do. Not only will the employees' right to strike end, but so will the employer's right to lockout. The employer cannot be sure at all of where the arbitrator will go if it leaves issues to go to arbitration. It may be that the arbitrator will take the union's side on every position. We do not know that, so it is a gamble for both parties—