Last week the federal government introduced a new piece of legislation, C-58, which is aimed at banning the practice of employers bringing in replacement workers during a contract dispute.
Experts say the legislation is the culmination of decades of work by the labour movement in Canada, while it also represents the fulfilment of a key demand in the Liberal-NDP confidence and supply agreement.
Here’s what you need to know about the new piece of legislation.
What does the bill do?
The bill has two main components. The first makes it illegal for employers in federally regulated industries to bring in replacement workers to continue operations previously executed by unionized employees during a legal strike or lockout.
Federally regulated industries include sectors like banking and telecommunications, totalling over one million employees. Around a third of those employees are unionized, according to the federal government. The legislation does not, however, apply to the federal public service.
The bill also sets out penalties for breaking the rules — $100,000 per day for employers — as well as some exceptions, such as for non-unionized contractors hired before notice of a lockout or strike, or in cases where there could be a threat to health and safety, property or the environment.
A second part of the bill details new processes for what are called maintenance of activities agreements. These new rules force unions and employers to negotiate early in the bargaining process (within 15 days of a notice of strike or lockout) which services would continue in the event of a dispute. If they can’t agree, the matter gets referred to the Canada Industrial Relations Board for a decision within 90 days.
“It’s a good bill [from the perspective of] what organized labour has been arguing for with regards to anti-scab legislation, as it’s called by unions and working people, versus the management term, which is replacement worker,” said Charles Smith, an associate professor at the University of Saskatchewan specializing in labour politics.
“This has been one of labour’s key legislative demands for the last 50 years. And I think on that level the labour movement is going to be celebrating today,” he said.
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Smith said the bill could reduce large-scale disruptions by forcing more deals to be made at the bargaining table.
Larry Savage, a professor of labour studies at Brock University, also noted that the bill could reduce potential violence on picket lines and mitigate the damage to workplace cultures following a contract dispute.
“At some point all work stoppages end and workers have to return to their jobs. But the resentment that’s caused by the use of scab labour, that lingers. It poisons labour relations and it inevitably leads to lower workplace morale,” he said.
What are people saying about it?
As Smith noted, the bill is being hailed as a major victory by the labour movement.
“This legislation is a step toward levelling the playing field. It will be good for the economy and good for labour relations, it encourages unions and employers to resolve their differences in the very place designed for that to happen, the bargaining table,” said Lana Payne, national president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, last week.
“Workers have called for anti-scab legislation for decades, as it has been a missing piece of Canada’s federal labour law,” said Bea Bruske, head of the Canadian Labour Congress.
“I think the anti-scab law was pretty high on the labour movement’s wish list,” Savage said.
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Business groups this week expressed opposition to the legislation, arguing it would weaken key services and increase labour disruptions.
“There’s a reason why similar bills were always voted down in the past. They put too much power in the hands of large unions, and they are a threat to the economy as a whole. It looks like this bill is introduced for political reasons and not because it’s necessary,” said Jasmin Guenette, vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses.
Savage said previous, opposition-led attempts at labour reform have often been derailed following pressure from employers.
“They’ve usually faltered because Liberal MPs got cold feet and switched their votes on second or third reading based on pressure from the business community,” he said.
“The dynamics are a little different this time around as a result of the confidence and supply agreement. But we should expect strong business opposition to this bill.”
Savage and Smith both said similar provincial legislation in Quebec and British Columbia had not led to a noticeable increase in contract disputes leading to strikes or lockouts.
What are the politics involved?
The anti replacement worker legislation was a key demand in the Liberal-NDP confidence and supply agreement. The two parties worked closely on the legislation, and the resulting bill closely mirrors previous NDP proposals, Savage said.
In an event announcing the legislation Thursday, Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan repeatedly made note of his close working relationship with NDP deputy leader and labour critic Alexandre Boulerice.
So part of the motivation behind the bill is to fulfil that confidence and supply requirement, Savage said. And as a “transactional” party, he noted, it was clear that the Liberals are trying to shore up support with unions.
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“The other thing that’s happening here, though, is that I think the Liberals see this as an opportunity to use the legislation as a wedge issue to undermine recent Conservative efforts to build up support amongst blue collar union members,” said Savage.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been making a concerted political push to garner the votes of working Canadians. But Smith said this bill presents the party with a challenge, and a choice between the newer attitude on labour and older Harper-era positions.
“When you look at the Conservative record, especially since Harper, there’s no appetite for the reforms that the labour movement has advocated for. And I think Poilievre is very much in that corner,” he said.
Poilievre’s office did not respond to a request for comment from CBC News on the party’s position.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has crafted an agenda focused on affordability and economic growth. (Ethan Cairns/Canadian Press)
What’s next?
Smith said one puzzling aspect of the legislation is a clause that says it will come into force 18 months after it receives royal assent.
O’Regan said Thursday that was largely to give the agencies responsible for handling labour disputes and the new processes enough time to adapt to the new regulations.
Savage said the labour movement is probably hoping this legislation will have a cascading effect throughout the provinces, where legislation mirroring the proposed federal law could crop up.
Smith also noted that the legislative win might translate to a greater political push in the next election.
“Given all the things we’ve been seeing in the last 12 months with regards to strikes and struggles and labour wins, this I think puts a little wind in the political sales of the labour movement in as much as it actually shows that those struggles can have political meaning,” he said.
He said that the political momentum labour might glean from the bill may or may not translate to victories at the polls for labour-supported candidates, but the momentum is there.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Ukraine should be allowed to strike deep inside Russia, regardless of Moscow threatening that this would draw Canada and its allies into direct war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that the NATO military alliance would draw itself into war if it allows Ukraine to use donated weapons to make long-range strikes inside Russia.
His comments come five weeks after Ukrainian forces stormed the border and put parts of Russian territory under foreign occupation for the first time since the Second World War.
Trudeau says Canada “fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry” to prevent Russian strikes on hospitals and daycares across the country.
He says Ukraine must win in fighting back against Russia’s invasion, or it will encourage other large countries to try absorbing their neighbours.
In May, Washington began allowing Ukraine to use American weaponry to strike inside Russia, but only for targets near the border being used to attack Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
“Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilians (and) infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau told reporters at a news conference in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., on Friday.
“(Putin) is trying to deeply destabilize the international rules-based order that protects us all, not just in every democracy around the world, but in all countries around the world,” Trudeau said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – A justice with Ontario’s Appeal Court has dismissed an application for bail from Canadian musician Jacob Hoggard as he tries to appeal his sexual assault conviction at the country’s top court.
Justice Jill Copeland heard arguments at a bail hearing for Hoggard earlier this week, not long after the Hedley frontman began serving his five-year sentence.
Hoggard, who was found guilty in June 2022 of sexual assault causing bodily harm against an Ottawa woman, filed an application last week for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court and sought bail at Ontario’s Appeal Court.
His application to the Supreme Court argues that the Appeal Court – which recently upheld his conviction – failed to apply the proper test in determining whether an error made by the trial judge constituted a “harmless error.”
Copeland says at this stage, where Hoggard’s conviction has been unanimously affirmed by the Appeal Court and it “appears unlikely” he will be granted leave to appeal by the Supreme Court, she is satisfied that the public interest in enforcing the musician’s sentence outweighs his interest in a second review of his conviction.
She says that if the Supreme Court grants leave to appeal, a reassessment of Hoggard’s bail status may be warranted.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
