Thank you to my colleague from Niagara Falls.

You spoke about Peter Kormos this morning. Peter Kormos had tabled anti-scab legislation to prevent replacement workers from crossing picket lines, ever since Mike Harris had repealed it—when the previous NDP government had put anti-scab legislation in place, which actually strengthened negotiating ability.

We all know that more than 98% of negotiations are settled at the bargaining table; of the remaining 2%, there are very few of them that actually use replacement workers. Literally, when they use them, the employer uses these workers. They divide community. They break friendships. They leave long-lasting scars. It’s not only bad for the community; it’s bad for negotiations. We all know the best place to negotiate is the bargaining table, but artificially lengthening labour disputes with replacement workers just harms community and harms the finances of everyone involved.

This is a bill that workers have been asking for for a long time. It’s a bill that the Conservative Party took away with Mike Harris, and it’s a bill that the Liberal Party promised to bring forward. I remember sitting in the gallery over here, as a worker on strike, and, when they called for the vote, watching Liberals go into the back lobby to hide from the vote so that the Conservatives could vote it down. It’s a bill that we need today. It’s a bill that should be in a bill that’s called Working for Workers.

So there are things in here that are great, but really, this is a bill that seems more important to the Conservatives as a headline bill—to do multiple press conferences, talk about multiple things in the bill. Some of the stuff that they talked about in the press conference didn’t make it in the bill. Clean washrooms wasn’t in the bill, WSIB for firefighters wasn’t in the bill—it was in the press conference, but not in the bill.

The stuff you’re talking about—to the member opposite—these are things that are enshrined in collective bargaining agreements all the time, so I’m glad that they’re going to be further enhanced in the Employment Standards Act.

What we’re saying on this side is that there is much more we can do than just have a title—Working for Workers 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8—and actually have substance, like paid sick days, in a bill called Working for Workers.

The thing that stood out to me, when speaking to these workers—because you have the opportunity to speak with them as they’re going past the picket line—is that they were scared and they were worried, and they felt like they had no other option. When you dangle a carrot of a lot of money in front of a worker who is having a hard time putting food on the table or affording rent, and this is the only option, the only work they can find, they are desperate, and they get used by the company and left behind. So it’s really important that we have legislation like this that prevents these workers from being used.

Today I want to talk about my friend Marcel Charron.

Marce was a mill operator at Glencore back when it was called Falconbridge. He worked on the floor at a blue-collar job. He was the sort of guy who was friendly and quiet. He was definitely funny. He was proud to be blue-collar, but he wasn’t a stereotype. Marcel spoke openly about the horrors of femicide and the damage it does to community. His sister, Chantal, was murdered by an ex-boyfriend, and Marce shared his pain, hopeful that it would help, hopeful that it would lead to change.

Most people knew Marcel as someone who believed in workers. He spoke for workers. He stood for workers. He simply wanted a better world for everyone. His activism got him more involved with his union, and in 2013 he was elected as vice-president in Mine Mill Unifor Local 598, my dad’s union. Five years later, he was their president. Unfortunately, early in his term, Marce was diagnosed with cancer. The fight with cancer was hard over the past five years—but I witnessed a love story, and I’m a sucker for a love story, and few are as beautiful as how much Cathy loved Marcel and how much he loved her right back. It’s easy to be in love in the best of times, and it’s beautiful to see love fight through in the worst.

Last Friday, I visited Cathy and Marcel at the Maison McCulloch Hospice. Cath said he knew he had to come, but he was mad. Marcel winked at her and said, “I’ll get over it.” It was the last time I’ll ever see Marcel, a blue-collar worker, a vocal advocate against femicide, a worker activist, a union president, a loving father, and a loving husband.

I’ll miss you, brother.