Lloyd Axworthy

[Labour Disputes, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier we will be putting on the Order Paper today notification of legislation. I will be more than interested in listening to the hon. member's comments on debate trying to justify such a position. I would hope he would not take too long because we would like to get the legislation passed and into law tomorrow so we could put people back to work.

He may want to hold back his larger philosophical discourse until another occasion when we can talk about labour relations in this country and how we can assure that both parties' rights are protected.

[Vancouver Harbour, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, that very much depends upon members of this House.

If in fact we got full co-operation from all members we could have the legislation passed by tomorrow.

It would depend upon the full and total co-operation of all members and deputies of this chamber. I would invite them to co-operate now that the decision has been taken to introduce legislation. It will be tabled tomorrow. If members co-operate we could have the problem resolved by tomorrow night. It all depends on members opposite.

[Vancouver Harbour, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, as I already said in answer to a previous question, we are tabling a bill today. During the debate on that bill, members will have several opportunities to exchange views regarding the report presented by the Department of Human Resources Development. I will certainly share all information with the members on both sides of this House.

[Exports, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I suppose we are prepared to take under advisement the hon. member's proposal if at the same time he is prepared to show what he would do about the deficit in the meantime. I would think that we should try to get the Reform Party to be able to speak with some consistency on these matters.

[Exports, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I say to the hon. member that the most immediate and important requirement is to end the work stoppage problem at the port of Vancouver. There are many other questions related to labour matters and I hope that we will providing, during the course of the next several months, an opportunity for this House to discuss them and to come to grips with them.

The important thing right now is to get the port of Vancouver back to work, the grain moving and the other commodities moving. I would invite the hon. member and his party, along with others in the House, to concentrate and focus their efforts on that singular task.

[Labour Dispute, February 7th, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to answer the question of the hon. member.

As the House knows, over the past week or 10 days we have been encouraging the parties to the dispute to exercise their rights and obligations under collective bargaining to reach an agreement. In the past several days we have offered the mediation services of the federal government to do that. Unfortunately as of yesterday the talks once again broke down and the sides were unable to come to any agreement that would allow them to proceed with a new contract.

The assessment we made is that the impact of this work stoppage is now reaching beyond the parties themselves. It is having a very serious impact on the economy generally; certainly the grain economy of western Canada and the economy of the port of Vancouver.

Consequently notice will be placed on the Order Paper today of the government's intention to introduce measures to end the work stoppage and bring about a resumption of port operations.

I would ask for the co-operation of all members of the House for quick passage of this legislation.

[Labour Dispute, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, your namesake is an experienced member of the legislature and he would know that any statement of that kind would have a very negative effect on the bargaining process.

It would be unseemly for the member to make that suggestion. Certainly it would be for those responsible for labour. As I said at the outset, we believe that the collective bargaining process is the way to settle labour-management disputes. We offered our services. We have the good fortune that the parties have understood that message, have come back to the table and they are now using a federal mediator.

I hope the hon. member and his party would be supportive of what is clearly the kind of process we should follow in a good private enterprise system.

[Labour Dispute, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I am sure the hon. member will approve, as I think most members of the House will, that today the parties are back at the negotiating table with the help of a federal mediator. We hope that under those circumstances they realize their mutual responsibilities to come to a settlement.

[Manpower Training, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, it may be the strategy of the Bloc Quebecois to try to fight a provincial election in this Chamber. We are interested in actually solving the problems of unemployment. We are interested in a partnership with the provinces.

We are interested in developing a new sense of co-operation and federalism and that was the basis for the discussion with the Quebec minister, as it has been with all the provincial ministers. They have agreed to come together for a meeting on February 14 so we can establish new arrangements.

If members of the Bloc Quebecois want to play election politics that is their business. We are interested in getting Canadians back to work.

[Manpower Training, February 2nd, 1994]

Mr. Speaker, I had a positive discussion with Mr. Marcil on Monday evening. We see eye to eye on the importance of an extensive restructuring of the social security system. We share the same determination to fight unemployment. We agree that the one-stop concept, similar to what we have now in New Brunswick, is a valid goal as far as the provinces are concerned. That is what Mr. Marcil said not so long ago.

Indeed, we will first report to our respective Cabinets on our discussion and then, at the provincial ministers' meeting to be held on February 14, we could suggest together some ideas on how to save money and develop a new approach to deal with unemployment and poverty. As you know, in Canada, we generally work together.