New bill should help prevent strikes in the ‘centre of the economy,’ think tank report says

OTTAWA — The Carney government’s recent legislation designed to avoid crippling strikes in the transportation sector was an important response to a growing trend that had the potential to cause serious economic damage, a new think tank report says.

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In a report to be released Thursday, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) writes that Ottawa is justified in stepping in when the two sides in a labour dispute are not “remotely close to reaching common ground” and millions Canadians are paying the price.

The report cited recent lockouts at the ports of Montreal and Vancouver in 2024 and a labour strike a year later at Air Canada as examples of work stoppages that threatened major swaths of the Canadian economy and thousands of jobs. Airlines, ports and rail services are considered key parts of national infrastructure and are relied on by miners, manufacturers, farmers and many other economic sectors.

In August, 2024, for example, the simultaneous shutdowns of rail services at CN and CPKC threatened the transport of about $1-billion of goods a day, the report says.

Gabriel Giguère, a senior policy analyst at MEI and the report’s author, said these types of transportation companies are different than most other employers and warrant unique legislation to help keep them in operation.

“It’s at the centre of the economy,” Giguère said of the transportation sector.

Christopher Monette, a spokesman with Teamsters Canada, whose members include truck drivers and dock workers, said the Canadian economy can withstand limited disruptions much more than “anti-union voices” suggest. More than 95 per cent of collective agreements are resolved without a work stoppage, he said.

“Claiming that few remaining cases are enough to cripple our economy is factually baseless and sells Canada short.”

Ottawa’s response to the sector’s stoppage threat was Bill C-39, more commonly known as the Building Canada Strong Act, an omnibus bill that was introduced last week. The proposed legislation is designed, among many other things, to make it easier to resolve labour disputes in federally regulated transportation industries by clarifying the process for government intervention.

The bill’s measures include an increase in the conciliation period before a strike or lockout and the explicit ability for the labour minister to intervene in the event of a “significant adverse national impact.”

The MEI says the problem of work stoppages in these important sectors has been on the rise. There were 22 recorded work stoppages in the transport sector between 2024 and 2025, an annual average almost three times the four work stoppages in those sectors in 2016.

The government was able to force resolutions to some work stoppages in the industry but its legislative authority was sometimes called into question. This legislation clarifies Ottawa’s ability to take action, as well as the process for doing so.

Monette said the number of referrals have been on the rise because employers lobby the government to use the existing legislation, then point to its frequent use as proof of its importance.

Workers’ rights to strike and to collective bargaining are protected in the Canadian constitution, Monette added, and those rights can’t be ignored because of an alleged economic disruption.

National Post

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