Singh Says Rail Back-to-Work Legislation Would Break Deal With Liberals

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he would not support the federal government implementing back-to-work legislation to bring an end to the railway strike, even if it were a confidence vote that would break the party’s supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals over the issue.

“If it’s a confidence vote, that’s breaking the agreement. We always have the right to withdraw our support from the agreement, and that remains our position. We can always pull away. We can always break it,” Singh told reporters on Aug. 22.

Singh’s comments came hours before the federal government announced it would intervene in the railway labour dispute to force arbitration. Federal Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said he was invoking Section 107 of the Labour Code to direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose final binding arbitration.

The railway companies, the Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, which represents 9,300 employees, had failed to come to an agreement to keep the workers on the job. On Aug. 22, 6,000 CN workers and 3,300 CPKC workers were locked out by the companies, and trains across Canada came to a halt.

Canada is heavily reliant on rail transportation to ship goods, with the Railway Association of Canada noting that more than half of the country’s exports, valued at more than $1 billion per day, are shipped by rail. In an Aug. 21 statement, groups like the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada, and Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Ottawa needed to take “immediate action” to keep rail services running, including binding arbitration to prohibit a strike.

Singh Says Government’s Action Is ‘Anti-Worker’

Singh told reporters that his party would oppose “any attempt of the federal government to intervene on behalf of the employer against the workers.” He said the two railway companies and the union should come to their own agreement that would provide good wages and safe working conditions for employees.

In a press release on Aug. 22, Singh condemned the federal government’s intervention in the labour dispute as “anti-worker,” saying it sends a bad message.

“Justin Trudeau has just sent a message to CN, CPKC and all big corporations—being a bad boss pays off,” he said.

As the deadline for negotiations approached, the Liberal government had indicated it was in favour of the two sides coming to a negotiated resolution. “Millions of Canadian workers, farmers, and businesses right across the country are counting on both sides to do the work and get to a resolution,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Aug. 21.

In a press conference on Aug. 22, Minister MacKinnon said the government had to intervene as the shutdown is impacting millions of Canadians.