Times Have Sure Changed

...when a private Member's bill (no less!) to ban the use of replacement workers during strikes at federally regulated workplaces succeeds on second reading. Bill C-257 passed 167-101, with the NDP and the Bloc solid, the Libs split, and the Tories mostly but not entirely opposed.

The Bill could stall in committee and, apparently, if the Tories forced their Members to vote against, would die on final reading. Still, this one has moved forward almost entirely under the radar. When Bob Rae tried something similar in Ontario, the business community announced the coming Apocalypse (and indeed Mike Harris killed the legislation immediately upon getting into office). This time, all we have is:

"It's a very bad legislative proposal," said Mike Murphy (not me!) , a policy vice-president at the [Canadian chamber of Commerce].