Madam Speaker, I thank the member for acknowledging that today is the day to mourn workers who have been injured, lost their lives or suffered illnesses in the workplace. I am happy to say that the federal government has put a number of measures in place to help protect workers and keep them safe. In fact, during this pandemic, that has been my number one priority.
With respect to workers, we understand the impact this is having on workers. In fact, I have a letter before me from the ministers in Ontario and Quebec, the economic ministers as well as the labour ministers, and the numbers of workers who will be impacted as a result of the stoppage of work is 215,000 employees in Montreal and 273,000 workers in Ontario.
I would say to the member that this situation is dire. The impact is deep. We have to take action. Of course, the preferred course is to have the parties come to an agreement. This legislation is going to allow mediation to continue, as I said, for up to 21 days. The message still remains that we want the parties to come to an agreement at the table and—