I find it a challenge, Madam Speaker, when I listen to the concerns that get raised by the members opposite. All I seem to notice, or what we seem to see on a repetitive basis, is this consistent approach of, “Well, there isn’t this, there isn’t this, there isn’t this, there isn’t that.” It’s just this “no” mentality. It’s this constant negative mentality. I heard a comment earlier today. It’s why they will always be opposition, Madam Speaker, because everything is just oppositional all the time.

At some point in time I would hope that the opposition would consider their role as policy-makers, their role as people within our Legislature who are here to make a difference in people’s lives and really just say yes once in a while to some of the good work that’s being done for the people of this province.

This is a real challenge for too many people out there. To think of an employer holding a person’s passport or work permits, that’s fairly deplorable—obviously it is deplorable actions on behalf of those individuals.

Our government has looked at trying to remedy that by, again, increasing the punishments, increasing the fines. If it is a corporation, they would be liable to a fine of not more than $1 million, and if it is an individual, to an amount of not more than $500,000 or to a period of imprisonment of not more than 12 months. That punishment, of course, can be both, so you can go to jail for a year and you can be fined half a million dollars. That is a pretty significant punishment. When we in the legal world use terms like “general deterrence,” I think that is a very strong general deterrent for employers who behave in that fashion to recognize that they can’t, and if they do, the punishment is a severe one.

I think it’s a very, very strong reason to look at passing legislation like this so that we can really protect those individuals who are very vulnerable to their employers when they may hold their passport, take their passport, and not return it to them. That is just the type of action that, again, is how we work for workers and we’re protecting workers and standing up for the little guy in this province.