Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express serious concerns I have with this government's inability to come to an agreement with our public service union. Mr. Speaker, based on the information I received yesterday, and the House received yesterday, from the Finance Minister, I believe there is a serious problem here with the union and they should, in fact, move towards allowing the membership to vote on whether or not this is a good collective agreement. I rise and say this, Mr. Speaker, because although I do not have many union employees or government employees in my riding, the effects of the shortage of nurses I feel is directly related to the fact that there is no collective agreement in place, which would allow the benefits that are identified in that collective agreement to go to the nurses.
Mr. Speaker, at one point in the past I was an employee of the government and represented by the union. I must say that I always resented paying the dues because I never saw the point in it, and I was not alone in that opinion. Mr. Speaker, I feel many people feel the same way now. I urge the union to do one of two things; allow the nurses to vote or allow the nurses to strike their own union. Thank you.
--Applause