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Labour

Question period dealt with federal labour policy and the government’s new labour legislation. NDP members said the Bank of Canada broke the law twice by using replacement workers during a strike and argued that the government’s new bill weakens workers’ right to strike, asking who the bill was meant to serve. Liberal ministers replied that the government always protects workers’ constitutional right to strike, that stepping into labour disputes should happen only in exceptional circumstances, and that the bill adds rules to help parties reach agreements at the bargaining table, which the minister said labour groups had asked for. The remaining items in the period were unrelated procedural matters, including a request for unanimous consent to table a constituent’s letter and a complaint about noise during members’ statements.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

6 statements

Heather McPherson

NDP

Linked statement

“The Bank of Canada broke the law twice this summer by using replacement workers during a strike, and the government did nothing. Now the government is trying to weaken the right to strike. When will the government stand up for workers instead of employers?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, twice this summer the Canada Industrial Relations Board found that the Bank of Canada broke the law by using scabs against striking security officers represented by PSAC. Twice. The Liberal government has done absolutely nothing to fix this, which is hardly surprising coming from a government that introduced legislation yesterday to undermine workers’ right to strike. When will the government stop siding with employers and start standing up for workers, or does the government believe that labour law is something that only workers have to obey?

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Leslie Church

Liberal
“We will always protect workers and their right to strike. The government should only step into labour disputes in rare cases. Our new bill adds clear rules and transparency to make sure talks work better.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, let me be crystal clear. We will always protect the rights of workers, and we will always support workers’ constitutional right to strike. As the member opposite knows, when we are talking about section 107, we always believe that this should only be used in exceptional circumstances. The legislation that we have brought forward establishes clear guardrails and new transparency for its use, and it helps us make sure that bargaining is actually more successful. We cannot build the Canada we need without workers. They are at the core of our agenda, and we support them wholeheartedly.

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Gord Johns

NDP
“The government's new bill takes away the right to strike. Striking is how workers fight for fair pay to feed their families. I want the government to explain who asked for this bill, and how hurting workers' bargaining power helps families.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, who is the government listening to? Canada’s biggest corporations are making record profits, yet yesterday the Liberals introduced legislation trying to take away workers’ right to strike. Withholding labour is the workers’ bargaining power. It is how families fight back against corporate greed so people can feed their kids. We are asking, precisely who asked the Liberal government for these changes, and can the Liberals explain how they think weakening bargaining power helps Canadian families?

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Steven MacKinnon

Liberal
“This bill does not hurt workers. It helps employers and unions reach agreements at the bargaining table, which is what labour groups asked us to do.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the building Canada strong act does precisely the contrary. It assists parties in disputes to get to agreements. We all know that the best agreements are those that are reached at the bargaining table, and the federal government has put in place a series of proposals in this bill that not only will respond to many of the comments raised by the labour movement during the consultations but will also underpin a system of deep support for parties as they navigate through collective bargaining and, hopefully always, in all cases, reach a collective agreement.

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Scot Davidson

Conservative
“I am asking everyone here to agree to let me officially submit a letter I talked about earlier today.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Today during question period, I referenced a letter from Margaret Haddon, a resident of Bradford West Gwillimbury. I am seeking unanimous consent to table this document. The Prime Minister and MPs across the way have— Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

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Elizabeth May

Green
“The room was too loud during members' statements. A member was talking about people running from wildfires, and we could barely hear her. People need to be quiet and show respect.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, during members’ statements, the S.O. 31 section, the hon. member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay was valiantly trying to make an important statement about what had happened in her community this summer. I could barely hear her for the noise from the general hubbub. It was not malicious noise; it was just noise. I know you try Mr. Speaker, but really I felt so badly for the member for Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay. I do not know if she wants to try again, probably not, but please, when someone is talking about a heart-wrenching situation where people are running for their lives from wildfire, people should show respect.

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