Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my first comments are in response to a comment made by the Minister of Finance with regard to the public perception of having this piece of legislation fast-tracked through the House.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out to the Minister that if he was so concerned about the bill receiving proper consultation, why did he suggest unanimous consent to put it straight into Committee of the Whole.

Mr. Chairman, I voted against unanimous consent, but it wasn't particularly that I was against the piece of legislation. I voted so that the bill would go to the committee and from there it would be up to the committee as to whether or not they felt more public consultation was needed or not. In other words, I didn't want anyone to say that this bill was fast-tracked through the House.

Mr. Chairman, I don't particularly have any concerns with the wording of the bill. My concern is more with the snowball effect these amendments to the legislation will have. It would give this government the opportunity to amend the wages and benefits of the employees. Where my concern comes in is although I don't have very many government employees in my region, we do have a lot of hamlet and housing employees and they have unions. No doubt the next thing that is going to happen is they will be requestion to reduce their wages and benefits to their employees as well. Their wages and benefits Reflect what this government has. I do have that as a concern.

I am also surprised that at this time of great restraint, the Federal government hasn't taken the same action to reduce their wages and benefits to their employees. Our wages and benefits for our employees reflect what the federal government used to have.

Mr. Chairman, because I don't particularly have any concerns with the wording of this bill and I believe the unions have had proper opportunity to have input into the bill, according to the Members of the committees, I would vote in favour of the bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.