Laval, QC, September 22, 2026 – Teamsters Canada is raising the alarm around Bill C-39, the Building Canada Strong Act, and warning that some of the proposed changes jeopardize the right to strike and may lead to more conflicts.
“The government has created an environment that will no longer provide employers with the incentive to bargain in good faith,” said François Laporte, President, Teamsters Canada.
As written, Bill C-39 does not provide any meaningful guardrails around the use of section 107 of the Canada Labour Code, which the government has used to unilaterally end labour disputes.
Instead, the bill lays out a new bureaucratic procedure, where the Minister of Labour need only appoint a special mediator and declare that, in her opinion, a strike “may adversely affect the national interest.”
“The rail cartel colluded to simultaneously lock out our members in 2024, deliberately relying on the government to use section 107. It worked. Bill C-39 now incentivizes companies to follow suit and exert political or economic pressure on Ottawa rather than face workers at the table,” explained Laporte.
Bill C-39 also makes it considerably harder to challenge section 107 in court. By writing these powers into law, and making the Minister’s opinion the only test, the government is shielding back-to-work orders from nearly every legal challenge except a constitutional one.
The net result is a bill that bodes poorly for labour relations in Canada.
“The bill also introduces some positive elements for workers, like first contract arbitration, union successor rights for contract retendering, and tools to get job creating projects off the ground. But until section 107 is repealed, we will see harder bargaining, more impasses and more conflicts, not fewer. The government clearly missed the mark,” concluded Laporte.
Teamsters Canada represents about 130,000 members across the country.
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Media requests:
Christopher Monette
Director of Public Affairs
Teamsters Canada
Cell: 514-226-6002
[email protected]
