Proposed limits on Ottawa’s power to end strikes now go to special committee for study
Federally regulated employers could face new rules for when Ottawa may end a strike or lockout after Bill C-39, which rewrites the federal jobs minister’s intervention powers, passed second reading in the House of Commons on Oct. 8.
Conservatives joined the governing Liberals to pass the bill 296 to 26 and refer it to a special committee, according to The Canadian Press (CP).
The bill, tabled Sept. 21, 2026, as the Building Canada Strong Act, mainly speeds project approvals.
It also contains the government’s proposed overhaul of federal labour law for sectors such as rail, air transport and banking.
Section 107 lets the minister direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to take steps to maintain or secure industrial peace. Ottawa has used it to end stoppages at Canada Post, CN and CPKC, and ports in British Columbia and Montreal, CP reported.
Under the bill, the minister could appoint a special mediator up to 75 days into conciliation, with 21 days to help the parties settle. Once a legal strike or lockout began, the minister could direct the CIRB to order a return to work, extend the collective agreement or impose binding arbitration.
The minister could do so only after considering the mediator’s report and concluding the national interest is affected, according to an analysis by Canadian HR Reporter.
Opposition response and committee next steps
New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Avi Lewis, who does not hold a Commons seat, and NDP MP Don Davies of Vancouver Kingsway, British Columbia, said the bill cannot pass as written because of its effect on labour and treaty rights. Lewis said it “must be scrapped.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, MP for Battle River–Crowfoot in Alberta, said his party supported committee study to amend what he called a “weak, watered-down, long-delayed” bill. He pledged amendments protecting workers’ rights without specifics.
The committee’s membership is unannounced, and the NDP, lacking official party status, will not have a seat. Davies said Government House leader Steven MacKinnon, MP for Gatineau, Quebec, refused his request to take part, which Davies called “fundamentally undemocratic.”
The bill follows a 2026 review that included a second round of Canada Labour Code consultations, where Section 107 was central, as outlined in coverage of Ottawa’s plans to rework Section 107 of the Code. The government has also said it will add 26 CIRB staff to clear a backlog of worker complaints.
Chris Pigott, a partner at law firm Fasken in Toronto, told CHRR in its analysis of Bill C-39’s collective bargaining changes that the revised provision would settle a live legal question. “These amendments, if enacted, should put to bed this legal dispute over whether or not Section 107 does in fact give the minister of labour the right to intervene in a work stoppage, which is currently the subject of a number of lawsuits,” he said.
Gerard Di Trolio, a PhD candidate in labour studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., warned that more predictable intervention could weaken bargaining. “If one side is incentivized just to wait for the government to intervene… that’s just going to deter bargaining in good faith,” he told CHRR in its breakdown of Bill C-39’s Section 107 changes.
Some unions are already signalling defiance. The national executive board of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) passed a unanimous resolution to defy the bill’s limits on the right to strike if Parliament passes it unamended, the union said on Sept. 23, 2026.
