CPAC - Friday, May 24, 2024 - 10:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #2

been with George Brown who is the founder of The Globe and Mail as someone that organized or played an important role in terms of printing press people where there was a significant rally in front of the Toronto legislature. But fast forward it to the one I often talk about and that is the Winnipeg general 1919 strike which is embedded in the minds of many, even nonunion members. I often look at the Free press Where One of the Pages and Pictures That They Continuously Reprint is the trolley car that was turned over during the 1919 strike, the bloody Saturday, and the impact that's had on the labour movement here in Canada. In fact on the 100th anniversary of the 1919 general strike, we contributed as a House of Commons to the trolley replica and it being put in just outside of Pantages or just across the street from city hall so that people that are walking by get a sense in terms of what had taken place because it stands out there, and you have to wonder why is that there. And it's connected to something that the Free Press publishes, as I say, on a regular basis, that trolley car. It's very symbolic for the city of Winnipeg and I would suggest to you even our country because through that strike that had taken place and through organized labour at the time, the area in which I represent, the Ukrainian Labour temple, MR. Speaker, Which which is in the traditional north end of Winnipeg on McCraigor, you will see that the organizers would often be in different areas in particular in the north end of Winnipeg organizing that strike. And what we found is that even though there was some low points where workers were hurt, maimed, and killed, at the end of the day, Mr. Speaker, what I took away from that particular strike was that labour was not just concerned about the working conditions that people found themselves in. From my perspective, it took on a social movement of sorts where it wasn't just about working X number of hours and how much money that we're getting paid; it was about the way of life and how people, in particular people with smaller incomes amount, Mr. Speaker, were being exploited, taken advantage of. And that there was a role for unions at the time not only to advocate for those wages and working conditions but often reflected on social programming. So when I take a look at Winnipeg, I think it's a good example in terms of what had taken place and the labour movement ever since. And in 1988, when I was first elected, we had this thing called final offer selection. And at the time it was being debated. You had the Conservative Conservative Party, Progressive Conservative Conservative Party, that opposed the legislation, and you had the NDP who supported the legislation but were not prepared to accept any sort of amendments to the legislation. At the time we were the official opposition in the Liberal Liberal Party, and for us we wanted to maintain the legislation and we were prepared to accept an amendment if in fact the Conservatives would allow the legislation to survive. Well, we sat for many hours late into the evening on committees, heard from many different unions upon a wide spectrum of issues, and it was something that was actually fought for to get the final offer selection. It was a compromise. Final offer selection was brought in by Howard Pauley, NDP premier, as a compromise. You see, because in the election

prior, Howard Pauley had actually promised to bring in anti-scab legislation. So Manitoba was going to have anti-scab legislation, but because of the resistance, the NDP at the time decided not to bring in replacement worker legislation but as a compromise brought in the final offer selection. And in the first two years as a parliamentarian in a minority situation, I can tell you that it was an extensive debate that had taken place. So it's kind of like a crash course on the importance of labour, listening to so many representatives from labour and from management, Mr. Speaker, and other stakeholders that came there. And literally sitting through all sorts of hours and hours of committees to the debates that had taken place, sadly final offer selection was killed. And it was, I would ultimately argue, prematurely killed because the political parties collectively could not see the merit in having final offer selection. And for those of that you don't necessarily understand what final offer selection is, is it provided the union the opportunity to so I that look -- to say that look, negotiations are not going well; there's a level of untrust that we cannot overcome. And then they would request that final offer selection be implemented. And through final offer selection, then you get this arbitrator who would come in and say to the union and to the management group give me your best offer. And ultimately that's what would happen: Both sides would present to the arbitrator, and the arbitrator was not allowed to change anything. The arbitrator had to take one over the other with no modifications. And I think that if one was to review the Hansards of back then, you will find that it was actually fairly effective. It made both union and management come to the table and give it their best shot knowing full well that one side was not necessarily going to be overly happy because the other side was going to be chosen. And the argument in part back then was is that over time it would in fact work out. And it was used, Mr. Speaker. And I believe that it proved to be effective. But sadly, because there was no consensus that was being achieved between the political parties, the personalities at the time, Mr. Speaker, we ended up losing final offer selection in Manitoba. In my opinion, that set back labour relations and many of the efforts of unions. And that I would reflect over the years, and if you even check, Mr. Speaker, even as a member of parliament in previous years as an MP, I've raised the issue of final offer selection. Because that was an opportunity that Manitoba lost because there was no political consensus. Fast forward it to today where we have a minister of labour who has vested so much time and energy with the department and has come forward with a piece of legislation that is ultimately being supported, from what I understand, from all members of the House of Commons. So through the ideas of whether it's the Prime Minister in bringing it in as a part of a platform to issuing it in the form of a mandate letter to a caucus that truly understands the importance of labour and how it impacts the Canadian economy and society, we had the support to move forward on this substantive issue. And we quickly found out we expected to receive support from the knew Democrats and even the Bloc because of the history of

the Bloc in the province of Quebec, Mr. Speaker, but what was pleasantly surprised was that the Conservatives actually supported it going into committee. Now, some of my colleagues might question the motivation for that, but I'm not going to do that, Mr. Speaker. I am going to take it that they actually do support the legislation, Mr. Speaker, and I'm going to say that the glass is half full and it's going to be full because at the end of the day I really do think it's going to pass with the maintain support of the House. And I shouldn't take for granted the Green Green Party. My understanding is, is that the Green Green Party being a progressive party will hopefully also be endorsing the legislation. I can't recall offhand what it is that the leader of the Green Green Party has said. I see this, Mr. Speaker, as a positive thing. I think it sends a powerful message. And other provinces should take note of it. I can tell you my daughter, who's a provincial MLA in the province of Manitoba, shortly after us introducing the legislation, brought it up in Manitoba. And today I can tell you that the province of Manitoba seems to be moving forward on the issue of anti-scab legislation with a huge expectation that we will see that legislation brought into the province of Manitoba. And I think that's a wonderful thing because you see, the federal legislation only has limitations in terms of who all it impacts. And the ideal situation is, is that we have provinces throughout the country recognize that not only does the province of Quebec have it and the province of British Columbia, but now we have leadership coming from Ottawa indicating that Ottawa is moving forward, and more important, Mr. Speaker, or just as important, it appears to be moving forward with the support of all political parties. Because when I've had the types of debates, the partisan types of debates in the past, I haven't seen the type of support that this legislation is actually receiving. So I want to personally congratulate the Minister of Labour in particular and his team of individuals that was able to do the consultation that was necessary, the work that's so very important, Mr. Speaker, in achieving a consensus. And that consensus will in fact benefit all of us. As not only am I optimistic for the province of Manitoba, but I believe there are other provinces that are out there that will take note. And whether it's individual members in other legislatures or it's political parties as a whole recognizing that, my gosh, if Ottawa can pass this kind of legislation that provincial jurisdictions can too. And we have two provinces that have already done so, Mr. Speaker. That have had it in place for years. And that's why I believe that this is legislation that can really have a positive outcome for us as a nation. Because it is about labour harmony. When you talk about building a stronger and healthier economy, when you talk about having a sense of fairness, when you talk about enhancing the middle class, when you talk about investing in solid social programs, whether it's pensionable programs, whether it's health care services, whether it's other programs dealing with issues like seniors, people with disabilities, these are issues that the labour movement has been talking about for many, many years. And it's contributed in a positive way. We have pharmacare that's on our agenda, and I can recall meeting with union reps to talk about the importance of pharmacare. So I believe, Mr. Speaker, that at the end of the day that we take advantage of the consensus that I believe is out there here on the floor of the House of Commons, we recognize how this type of legislation is going to help Canada's economy and our society as a whole,

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