Canada says proposed labour rules will reduce strike interventions. History suggests a more complicated picture

The Canadian government has introduced legislation that would change how labour disputes are handled in federally regulated industries, including proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code that are intended to help unions and employers reach agreements sooner and reduce economic disruptions.

Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, has been tabled in the House of Commons, alongside measures to accelerate major project approvals, strengthen trade corridors and modernize ports.

The government says the labour provisions will strengthen collective bargaining, reduce disruptions and protect workers’ right to strike.

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu has said the changes would reduce the government’s rate of interventions.

But they could also mean greater state intervention when negotiations become prolonged, including the appointment of a “special mediator.” Canada has a long history of government intervention in labour disputes, and the proposed changes would formalize powers that have already been used in recent years.

The proposed change marks an escalation in the erosion of labour rights that has been underway since the 1970s.

A long history of intervention At the centre of the changes is Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.

Section 107 has been used by the labour minister to refer disputes to the Canada Industrial Relations Board and, in some cases, end a legal strike or lockout through binding arbitration .

Section 107 has been in the Canada Labour Code since 1984, but it was not used until 2011, when then-Labour Minister Lisa Raitt used it to try to settle a dispute between Air Canada and its flight attendants .

Since 2023, it has been used by the government in disputes involving Canadian National Railway, Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Air Canada, Canada Post and ports on the West Coast and in Quebéc , with binding arbitration as the preferred method of resolution.

Read more: Rail shutdown: What the dispute tells us about labour relations and politics in Canada Government sources told CBC News that codifying the practice could “increase private sector confidence” to signal to businesses “that Canada is a safe place to invest.” After the Second World War, Canada’s industrial relations system was designed to promote “free and fair collective bargaining.” As inflation and government deficits grew in the 1970s, governments increasingly used back-to-work legislation to end work stoppages and impose collective agreements.

Labour scholars Leo Panitch and Donald Swartz describe this pattern as “ permanent exceptionalism :” the treatment of labour disputes as emergencies warranting exceptional intervention.