This view breaks the statement into its steps and names what each one does.
Madam Speaker, The question · 31 wordswhat were the striking workers in Murdochville demanding in 1957? Why did 1,000 striking workers, 1,000 people working at the Murdochville mine in 1957, go on a long, seven-month, violent strike? Claims · 10 wordsThey were demanding decent working conditions and a decent wage. Reasoning · 32 wordsNormally, what people want is to be able to obtain decent working conditions through negotiations, through a process of dialogue between the employer and union members, where they discuss each other’s objectives. Positioning · 36 wordsThe employer lays its cards on the table a bit regarding the economic reality, and everyone tries to find ways to share the profits. However, that is not at all what happened in Murdochville in 1957.Positioning Claims · 54 wordsIt remains one of the most significant labour disputes in Quebec’s history. There were violent incidents in Murdochville that year. In April, 27 police officers were sent to stop picketing because, at the time, a Superior Court judge had ruled that the strike was illegal.1 A box of dynamite was later found in Murdochville.2Partly on point Positioning · 11 wordsIt is hard for me to imagine how violent it was, PositioningOff pointProcedure · 14 wordsbecause I go there quite often. After the discovery of the box of dynamite, ProcedureClaims · 16 wordswhich authorities feared might be used for criminal purposes, 50 police officers were sent to Murdochville.3Partly on point Procedure · 5 wordsAfter that, the picketing resumed, ProcedureClaims · 27 wordsand on July 14, 1957, Henri Bernatchez, a striker, died in a dynamite explosion on the grounds of the Murdochville mine.4 Two other strikers were seriously injured.Partly on point Procedure · 8 wordsThe dispute escalated. It spread to Quebec City.Procedure Claims · 22 wordsA large march took place in front of the National Assembly in September 1957. There were 7,000 workers from all over Quebec, 5Positioning · 22 wordsbut still, nothing was really resolved. It was a confrontational strike, a violent strike that unfortunately ended very badly for the strikers.PositioningPartly on point Procedure · 6 wordsWhy am I telling this story?Procedure Reasoning · 35 wordsThe goal is to find a balance in labour-management relations. We need to ensure that people talk to one another and that we encourage them to reach compromises rather than resorting to discouragement and violence.Partly on point Procedure · 11 wordsThere was a lot of that in what happened in Murdochville.Procedure Positioning · 17 wordsThe employer really did have a very anti-union attitude. Some of the strikers were also very demanding.PositioningPartly on point Procedure · 7 wordsWhat we have seen in recent years, ProcedureClaims · 29 wordsand what is particularly relevant to today’s debate, is a growing tendency on the part of the federal government to intervene in labour disputes using a rather unexpected mechanism. Positioning · 32 wordsOne has to acknowledge the ingenuity of the government’s legal advisers, who determined that section 107 of the Canada Labour Code could be used to bring an end to a labour dispute.Positioning Claims · 26 wordsThat provision grants the minister considerable discretion. Traditionally, when a government has chosen to intervene to end a strike, it has done so through special legislation. Positioning · 5 wordsSuch intervention is never ideal, PositioningReasoning · 14 wordsas the preferred outcome is always for the parties to reach a negotiated agreement. Claims · 14 wordsThe federal government has decided to use section 107 several times in recent years, 6Positioning · 10 wordsso much so that it has almost become a habit.Positioning Procedure · 24 wordsIt is like when you get a new tool, so you want to use it all the time until you end up over-using it.Procedure Claims · 191 wordsA number of strikes have been scaled back or brought to a swift halt by the federal government over the past two or three years. That was notably the case with WestJet in 2024.7 There was also the case of the national railways in August 2024.8 At the same time, there was the case of Canadian Pacific workers.9 After that, in November 2024, it was the dock supervisors at a B.C. port.10 There was also the case of the Port of Québec, 11where the strike was ended by the federal minister on November 12, 2024, using section 107.12 Members will recall that, in December, the Canada Post strike was interrupted.13 More recently, one last really important example is the Air Canada strike.14 In August 2025, the Air Canada strike was on the horizon.15 We are talking about 10,000 flight attendants who were ready to go on strike.16Partly on point Within hours of the strike starting, the minister used section 107 of the Canada Labour Code.17 Basically, section 107 states that the minister can take action by referring the matter to the Canada Industrial Relations Board, which can order an end to the strike.18 Positioning · 27 wordsIt is a fast track to end a strike and take away workers’ rights. The circumstances at Air Canada were not the same as those in Murdochville.PositioningPartly on point Claims · 59 wordsNevertheless, the strike began and, within hours, the minister invoked section 107. The Canada Industrial Relations Board then issued an order requiring the employees to return to work.19 However, Air Canada flight attendants refused to comply.20 They did not comply with that decision and, ultimately, within hours, an agreement was reached.21Partly on point Personally, I see a slippery slope there because, Procedure · 4 wordsas I was saying, ProcedureReasoning · 32 wordsif there is no balance, if people are not respected, conflicts can sometimes escalate. Although the goal is to encourage people to make compromises, sometimes we end up achieving the exact opposite. Procedure · 6 wordsWhat makes this situation somewhat unusual, ProcedureReasoning · 17 wordsand the reason we support Bill C-247, is that in 2015, in Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v.22 Claims · 86 wordsSaskatchewan, the Supreme Court ruled that the right to strike is essential.23 This was an important decision that clarified that the right to strike is “an essential part of a meaningful collective bargaining process”. The Supreme Court says that, in order to participate meaningfully in the pursuit of their goals, workers must have the right to strike. It states that the right to strike is constitutionally protected under the right to freedom of association enshrined in section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.24 Procedure · 9 wordsI would like to share a few short passages: ProcedureClaims · 115 wordsThe right to strike is essential to realizing these values through a collective bargaining process because it permits workers to withdraw their labour in concert when collective bargaining reaches an impasse. Through a strike, workers come together to participate directly in the process of determining their wages, working conditions and the rules that will govern their working lives. The right to strike also promotes equality in the bargaining process. While strike activity itself does not guarantee that a labour dispute will be resolved in any particular manner, or that it will be resolved at all, it is the possibility of a strike which enables workers to negotiate their employment terms on a more equal footing. Procedure · 11 wordsHere is one more excerpt, which is perhaps the most striking: ProcedureClaims · 54 words...the ability to engage in the collective withdrawal of services in the process of the negotiation of a collective agreement is, and has historically been, the irreducible minimum of the freedom to associate in Canadian labour relations. The right to strike is the “irreducible minimum of the freedom to associate in Canadian labour relations”.25 Positioning · 17 wordsSection 107 creates a fast track to removing workers’ right to strike. It throws off the balance.Positioning Claims · 28 wordsToday’s proposal to simply repeal section 107 does not take all power away from the federal minister, because she can act in other ways, including by appointing conciliators. Positioning · 11 wordsThe idea of special legislation is not off the table either, PositioningClaims · 13 wordsalthough this section 107 has been challenged before the Canada Industrial Relations Board, Positioning · 8 wordsand I suspect in federal court as well.Positioning Claims · 10 wordsI found no decisions when I was doing my research.Off point Procedure · 14 wordsI no longer have access to some of the tools I used to use.Procedure Claims · 10 wordsI did not find a ruling in the open-source database, Off pointPositioning · 56 wordsbut this use of section 107 would certainly have warranted judicial examination.Partly on point I think that the idea of simply repealing it outright would restore the balance of power, without taking away all powers to intervene, yet getting rid of a tool that is too readily accessible and that, unfortunately, has been somewhat misused in recent years.Positioning
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