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  2. TheTyee: The NDP Targets Ottawa’s New Strikebreaking Tactic

TheTyee: The NDP Targets Ottawa’s New Strikebreaking Tactic

NDP MP Jenny Kwan says she’s looking for a way to stop the federal government’s increasingly frequent intervention to end strikes.

In the last 14 months the government has invoked Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to try to end at least eight strikes in federally regulated industries.

The use of Section 107 has been controversial. A group of employers says it can be used to avoid economic catastrophe caused by prolonged labour stoppages.

But unions across Canada have spoken out against the increasing use, saying it violates workers’ Charter rights and increases employers’ power. Teamsters Canada is challenging Ottawa’s use of the legislation in court.

Click link to read the news article - https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/09/04/NDP-Targets-Ottawa-Strikebreaking-Tactic/

 

Now, Kwan says she’s hoping to pressure the government to stop using Section 107 to end strikes.

“What we’re seeing is a Liberal government abusing its power, in my view, in violation of the workers’ right to strike that’s prescribed in our Charter,” Kwan said. “How do you stop this from happening?”

Kwan said she is still researching possible changes to the law.

Section 107 says that to secure “industrial peace” or promote conditions favourable to dispute settlement, the labour minister can refer any question to the Canada Industrial Relations Board and direct the board to take action, including ordering workers to return to the job.

“It’s extremely open-ended,” said Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. “It gives the government wide-ranging powers to enact pretty much whatever they think would be helpful to try to resolve a labour dispute.”

Her organization, which represents more than three million unionized workers across Canada, has called for Prime Minister Mark Carney to stop using Section 107 to end strikes.

The only tactic workers have to win better pay and treatment is withholding their labour, Bruske said. Taking that power away from workers hinders negotiations, she added.

“It’s just egregious that it’s being used to this extent to stymie actual collective bargaining,” she said.

Click link to read the news article - https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/09/04/NDP-Targets-Ottawa-Strikebreaking-Tactic/

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MPs question Lena Diab's performance at question period and in committee

Criticism is coming not only from opposition parties, but also from Diab's own Liberal colleagues.

Away from the cameras, 10 Liberal MPs spoke to Radio-Canada about her performance. They were granted confidentiality in order to express themselves freely.

Of those, only one defended Diab's job performance. Although several of them emphasized that she is a "good person" in charge of a "difficult" portfolio, nine MPs said they believe that the minister is overwhelmed and are openly questioning her place at the cabinet table.

"It doesn't make sense. In the House of Commons, many MPs hold their breath when she answers questions from the opposition," said one Liberal elected official.

"We're afraid she'll put her foot in her mouth."

New Democrat Jenny Kwan, her party's immigration critic, said that both Carney and Diab are responsible for how the immigration file is handled.

"That responsibility is to be responsive to stakeholders, to take these issues seriously, to examine the policies, to evaluate them, to hear from opposition and the public and look for ways to improve them," she said.

"That is their job."

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/lena-diab-immigration-minister-criticism-9.7103914

Hill Times: Failed asylum-seeker motion shows Conservatives ‘smelled blood in the water’ with minister, immigration as wedge issue, say politicos

Hill Times: Failed asylum-seeker motion shows Conservatives ‘smelled blood in the water’ with minister, immigration as wedge issue, say politicos

Conservatives are capitalizing on the recent drop in public support for immigration, but risk being seen as too MAGA adjacent, say observers. Meanwhile, the immigration minister's own colleagues question her handling of the file.

The Conservatives’ defeated motion targeting health-care coverage for asylum claimants shows weaknesses on both the part of the Liberal immigration minister and the official opposition leader, with MAGA-like rhetoric posing political risk for the latter, observers say.

Jordan Leichnitz, a former NDP strategist who now works for the German non-profit Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, told The Hill Times in a Feb. 26 interview that the Conservatives’ pressure on the immigration file is a reflection of their own political fragility.

“To me, it’s a manifestation of their political weakness right now. They turn to these arguments because they’re very mobilizing for segments of their base at moments where they feel politically more vulnerable,” she said.

Click image or link to read the news story - https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2026/02/28/failed-asylum-seeker-motion-shows-conservatives-smelled-blood-in-the-water-with-minister-immigration-as-wedge-issue-say-politicos/493465/

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