{"id":790200,"date":"2026-10-03T01:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T01:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790200\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T01:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T01:28:11","slug":"why-carneys-economic-overhaul-is-clashing-with-canadas-unions-labour-rights-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/790200\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Carney\u2019s economic overhaul is clashing with Canada\u2019s unions | Labour Rights News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto, Canada: As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney races to make the country less dependent on the United States, attract billions in new investment and get major projects built faster, his economic overhaul is running into resistance from a group that says it wants many of the same things: organised labour.<\/p>\n

The latest clash, over the right to strike, comes after months of mounting pressure on Ottawa from Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump, since taking up a second term in office last year, has imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods and weakened trade agreements \u2013 perilous moves as Canada has historically sent close to 80 percent of its exports to its southern neighbour. He has repeatedly piled on with the tariff threats to make Canada the 51st US state.<\/p>\n

Canada has responded with retaliatory tariffs, while a broader movement to \u201cBuy Canadian\u201d has taken hold. The hockey-inspired \u201celbows up\u201d \u2014 meaning a readiness to defend against an opponent \u2014 has become a national rallying cry.<\/p>\n

With trade talks stalled since August, Carney has moved with urgency to shore up the economy and invite new investments. Last month, he announced Bill C-39, known as the Building Canada Strong Act, promising to bring \u201cspeed, certainty and predictability\u201d to investors.<\/p>\n

Along with measures to speed up approvals for major projects, the bill would also give Ottawa clearer powers to intervene in legal strikes and lockouts in federally regulated workplaces \u2014 a provision that has put Carney on a collision course with unions.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s largest unions have come together against the changes. The largest, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), had its national executive go as far as voting to defy the bill\u2019s proposed limits on the right to strike if it passes Parliament without amendments.<\/p>\n

CUPE National President Mark Hancock credited Carney\u2019s handling of Trump and said the union\u2019s 800,000 members, who work everywhere from hospitals to schools to municipal services, want to be part of \u201cTeam Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at what cost?\u201d he said in an interview with Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

A fight over the right to strike<\/p>\n

The controversy centres on Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which already gives the Labour Minister broad powers to step into disputes if needed to maintain \u201cindustrial peace\u201d, end work stoppages and force the two sides into a binding arbitration.<\/p>\n

Beginning in 2024, Ottawa used the provision eight times to intervene in disputes involving airlines, Canada\u2019s two largest railways, three major ports and Canada Post and again during the Air Canada dispute in 2025 when flight attendants went on strike.<\/p>\n

Unions have challenged the use of that law in court and had hoped the proposed C-39 would restrict, if not repeal, that clause while businesses wanted it strengthened.<\/p>\n

The bill does neither. Instead, it introduces two conditions that the government would have to fulfil first before turning to Section 107.<\/p>\n

Before stepping in, the government would have to appoint a special mediator, wait for a public report and consider whether a work stoppage is hurting the \u201cnational interest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Once a strike or lockout is underway, the minister could direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board to get operations running again and impose a binding process, such as arbitration.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A protester carries an effigy depicting Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney as people march to protest against the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto in September [File: Carlos Osorio\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

The government says those steps put clearer guardrails around a power that already exists, and Carney has said the bill \u201cabsolutely reinforces the right to strike\u201d, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.<\/p>\n

Unions have rejected this defence, pointing out that the meaning of \u201cnational interest\u201d would ultimately be decided by the minister. They also argue that the prospect of government intervention is bound to change what happens at the bargaining table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe political lesson that employers will draw from it is simple,\u201d Larry Savage, a professor of labour studies at Brock University, told Al Jazeera. \u201cHold out long enough, emphasise the economic damage, and then Ottawa will remove the union\u2019s leverage for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disruption, Savage said, is precisely what gives a strike its power. \u201cEvery effective strike is disruptive,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Unions say they have already seen employers expect Ottawa to intervene.<\/p>\n

Teamsters Canada alleges the Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) railroad companies were counting on Ottawa to step in when they locked out thousands of workers in 2024. Section 107 was invoked within hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompanies have gotten used to the idea that if there is a labour dispute, they can just wait for the government to intervene,\u201d Christopher Monette, Teamsters Canada\u2019s director of public affairs, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

CUPE said it saw a similar dynamic at Air Canada in August 2025. Hancock said bargaining stalled after more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants voted overwhelmingly to strike because the airline was \u201cexpecting the government of Canada to step in and end the strike\u201d \u2014 an account Air Canada disputed.<\/p>\n

Less than 12 hours after workers walked out, Ottawa invoked Section 107. Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau later told BNN Bloomberg the airline had expected the provision to be enforced and did not expect a strike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was why they didn\u2019t have a strategy on how to deal with the strike,\u201d Hancock said.<\/p>\n

Building Canada faster<\/p>\n

The fight over the right to strike is also part of a much bigger argument taking shape around Carney\u2019s economic agenda: Who gets a say in how Canada should change, and how quickly, in the name of making itself less vulnerable to the US?<\/p>\n

Critics accuse Carney of using the economic threat from the US to push through changes that go well beyond responding to Trump\u2019s trade war.<\/a><\/p>\n

New Democratic Party leader Avi Lewis has accused him of using the \u201cfear and disorientation around the trade war to push through a series of unpopular measures that he did not run on, has no mandate for and would never get away with under normal circumstances\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A protester carries an effigy depicting Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney outside the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto [File: Carlos Osorio\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

That tension was on display in Toronto just a week before C-39 was introduced. Inside Canada\u2019s first national investment summit<\/a>, hundreds of global investors met with government officials and executives as Carney pitched a country ready to build.<\/p>\n

Outside, hundreds of protesters marched through downtown towards the summit\u2019s opening gala under the banner \u201cThe Many vs The Money\u201d. The rally brought together labour, Indigenous, environmental and migrant-rights groups, with signs and speeches taking aim at everything from fossil fuel and military projects to AI and the use of public money to attract private investment.<\/p>\n

For unions, C-39 has sharpened that debate, pitting the government\u2019s promise of greater certainty for investors against workers\u2019 ability to exert pressure through strikes.<\/p>\n

But Jim Stanford, an economist and director of the Vancouver-based Centre for Future Work, questions how much of an economic threat strikes actually pose.<\/p>\n

While work stoppages can be costly for individual companies, Stanford said, \u201cIt is very, very rare that you would see a noticeable and sustained impact on GDP, employment or incomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Production and transportation are often delayed rather than permanently lost, he added, with businesses catching up once work resumes.<\/p>\n

Stanford also questioned the idea that strikes are driving away investment, noting that more than 95 percent of collective bargaining ends without a work stoppage and saying there is \u201cno empirical evidence whatsoever\u201d that strikes have reduced investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is more of the government giving some icing on the cake for business. It\u2019s not that this has to happen or else our investment won\u2019t work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There is also an economic cost to weakening the right to strike, Stanford argued. Workers need bargaining power to win higher wages, which can support consumer spending, productivity and worker retention.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt may seem like labour peace is a good thing, but if it means that a worker\u2019s share of the pie shrinks, then this actually hurts the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For labour leaders, that\u2019s where Carney\u2019s economic push goes too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada\u2019s unions are part of Team Canada. We have our elbows up,\u201d Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBut we can\u2019t have our elbows up against Trump with our hands tied at the bargaining table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Savage said the government\u2019s \u201cTeam Canada\u201d rhetoric risks treating workers\u2019 bargaining power as a national liability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Canada becomes stronger by telling workers in ports or railways or airlines that their rights have to be surrendered whenever employers invoke competitiveness or the national interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto, Canada: As Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney races to make the country less dependent on the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790201,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,626,1294,124748,50,108814,229,3283,306,56,54,55,3544,19813],"class_list":["post-790200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-economy","tag-labour-rights","tag-news","tag-news-analysis","tag-politics","tag-protests","tag-regulation","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-us-canada","tag-workers-rights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790200\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}