Let’s Make Revolutionary Changes: Meeting the Existential Threat Looming over All Canadians
10 Things to Improve Canada’s Industrial and Labour Relations and Supercharging the Canadian Economy, April 2, 2025
ILR - Industrial and Labour Relations
Admittedly at Oakbridges we have been fixated lately on a theme related to what we believe is a fundamental threat to the Canadian economy, our culture and our way of life. We are passionate about our heritage as Canadians and proud of our country. We believe we need to continue to push for a dialogue amongst leaders from politics, industry, the labour movement, the Indigenous communities and from other key interest groups to specifically discuss Industrial and Labour Relations Strategy. It is our current mission to try to encourage making these discussions happen.
The Canadian Labour Relations Forum on LinkedIn ought to be an ideal platform to launch this effort. So, we encourage members of that platform to weigh in to the debate and dialogue. We also intend to continue to spread the word throughout our network to push for action and results. It is great to see Canadians all rising up to proclaim our independence and our intent to protect our culture. However, we need more than just a unified belief in ourselves; we need an action plan that addresses the fundamental weaknesses that exist and that have stymied economic growth even within our free trade agreements and stood in the way of economic independence.
There are some thinkers, like the people behind the Century Initiative[1] who believe that the answer lies in planning for and encouraging Canadian population growth with the objective of reaching 100 million by the year 2100. With all due respect this leads us in the wrong direction and tends to espouse a magical solution based on a single economic factor. Granted population growth in Canada can come from a redistribution of populations from other areas of the world where the economies cannot sustain an adequate quality of life, however, collectively we should be aiming for a condition of economic balance that reduces the adverse impact of growth on the environment and sustainable wellness and establishes a condition of stasis where we achieve a condition of neutral or positive impact.
We have an indigenous population that is rapidly growing and is at a decided disadvantage when it comes to participation in our economy. There have been positive strides made to correct this but there remains a lot of work to do.
This is a subject (the century initiative and population growth) for a much larger debate than we want to engage in in the present, however it serves to make our point. We need to examine how we do things today in order to find better, sustainable ways to create economic security, protect our environment and to preserve the indigenous cultures all things that collectively make Canada unique. Adding more people is not the answer.
Structurally during recent times while world economies were prospering our Canadian performance tended to lag behind. Several indicators stood out that need to be addressed.
The first is our unemployment rate which hovers around 6.5% compared to a rate of 4% in the U.S. These numbers have been persistent enough that we can say they are indicators of full-employment. Thus, we seem to have a problem fully engaging Canadian workers. So there have been recent times when despite high demand for labour and damaging shortages in supply the unemployment rate remains constant. It is particularly disturbing that the unemployment rates in indigenous communities continues to far exceed the national averages. This is a major problem.
Secondly, Canada performs very poorly with respect to productivity growth. Canada's productivity ranking within the OECD has declined, falling from 6th in 1970 to 18th in 2022. Since the pandemic productivity has been flat (i.e. 0%). Inevitably this impacts the real incomes of Canadian workers and their standard of living. It is a crisis.
Finally, there are labour shortages across many professions including in health care, transportation and construction. Solving this problem through immigration is the wrong answer. These shortages are caused by many simultaneously occurring economic factors which include:
Poor productivity;
Lower real incomes that are not competitive with global standards;
Government regulatory barriers that discourage investments in Canadian projects and in labour productivity improvements (e.g. technology);
Our collective inability to work toward comprehensive solutions (we work in silos);
Collective disinterest in Industrial and Labour Relations as a strategic lever;
An outdated mode of adversarial labour relations that impedes progress;
Inordinate degrees of regulatory complexity governing labour and labour relations across Canada;
And so on, and so on……
CALLS to ACTION:
We have no doubt that a willing and able group of Canadians could come together under government sponsorship, supported by industry and the Canadian labour movement and solve this fundamental set of issues. Left unresolved the Labour Relations and Labour Market issues we face will be an absolute barrier that will prevent us from achieving economic security and independence.
Canada consistently ranks very high in terms of our education systems. We have the skilled workers we have invested in and we need to see succeed at home in Canada. We have a vital and vocal labour movement willing and able to participate in finding solutions, particularly solutions that will help improve real wages and worker standards of living while making Canada a global competitor in the sectors we choose to champion. We are smart enough to figure out the right solution. We do not need more people. Or at least there is no point encouraging an increase in immigration until we have figured out the systemic impediments that currently stifle growth. Nor is simply training the answer. So, let’s get together and figure it out!
Here are 10 things we could do, and could do quickly if motivated, to begin to fix the endemic problems that hold us back.
Establish a Standing Committee made up of the Labour Ministers from each province, the federal government and the territories. This body will have the mandate to coordinate activities including the passing of uniform legislation, removing any barriers related to labour mobility, ensure labour legislation, regulations and policies are consistent with the need to improve Canadian productivity and address perceived supply issues and to encourage the development of the Canadian Labour Movement separated from the influence of American union organizations.
Establish a Royal Commission to review current labour relations issues and labour market issues related to the operation of Canada’s ports and maritime facilities. The Commission’s Mandate should be to deliver a report to the above-mentioned Standing Committee within six months with recommendations specifically related to the operation of Hiring Halls, the advisability of having American dominated labour organizations representing Canadian Port workers, the need to introduce automation and technological advances in the operations of the ports, and what actions need to be undertaken to reduce corruption and crime within the port facilities.
Concurrently establish a second Royal Commission to review practices in the Canadian Construction industry. This will include examining: the efficacy of Hiring Halls; the impact of trade jurisdictions on productivity and safety; existing policies (federally, provincially, municipally and by sector) that favour one union model over another; the adverse treatment because of discriminatory policies of non-union contractors and contractors aligned with alternative Canadian Unions; and the impact of Project Labour Agreements (PLAs) on productivity, labour availability, access to projects and safety.
Hold a conference for Labour Leaders to have input into the deliberations of the above-mentioned Standing Committee and to address issues related to improving labour productivity, the American dominance in unions within some sectors of the economy, improving real wages and standards of living, accepting the need to adopt technology including automation, and so on.
Consider establishing a Canadian standard that imposes a time limit on bargaining certificates. Unions will be required to re-establish their bargaining rights for any given unit once every ten years (or such other period as determined by legislation). This ensures Unions are held accountable and are encouraged to maintain a high level of service to their members. Perhaps a 21 year limit similar to the restriction placed on trusts is in order.
Ensure uniform legislation exists that requires unions to be Canadian-based organizations wherein all effective decisions and all activities are directed by Canadian representatives on behalf of Canadian workers. Existing units of International Unions (i.e. American-based) would be given a period of time to separate and divorce themselves from the parent. During this period the existing units would maintain bargaining rights through succession. They would be allowed to maintain an arms-length relationship with any international labour organization but would be restricted in terms of sending funds raised through Dues to organizations in other countries and regulations would require that all decisions impacting Canadian workers be made by the Canadian entity.
Allow for Investment tax credits to any project owner who employs Canadian workers and demonstrates that the working conditions for those workers meet minimum standards established by industry practices. This means that the accepted standards are not merely established by reference to one labour model but rather is inclusive of all potential sources of labour including non-union labour. Incentives should avoid unforeseen consequences such as rewarding the employment of foreign workers over Canadian workers.
Require all meetings of union sponsored Pension and/or Plan trustees to be held in Canada. No more boondoggles to Vegas.
Establish, with the input of Canadian labour leaders, prescribed guidelines to ensure individuals from indigenous communities, women and other identified groups who have traditionally been excluded from the trades or from any given industry or regulate profession to have access to opportunities to become journey people in those trades or skilled workers within those industries.
Through the Prime Minister’s Office and with the support of the Premieres, industry leaders and labour leaders proclaim the importance of these initiatives and ensure a comprehensive Industrial and Labour Relations Strategy is part of Canada’s vision for the future.
And, by the way, in all these initiatives the policy and decision-makers ought to consider involving a group they often overlook when they consider issues related to labour relations and that is the Labour Relations practitioners of this country; these are the management representatives who have the experience and strategic understanding of the issues to make a difference; people like the many people who read our articles.
From a Sane Revolution by D.H. Lawrence
If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
don't make it in ghastly seriousness,
don't do it in deadly earnest,
do it for fun…Don't do it, anyhow, for international Labour.
Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of.
Let's abolish labour, let's have done with labouring!
Work can be fun, and men can enjoy it; then it's not labour.
Let's have it so! Let's make a revolution for fun!
We know that dealing with Canada’s labour and industrial issues is a deeply serious matter. Without exaggeration it is a matter of our collective future existence as an independent sovereign nation. However, the value of work ought to emanate from the intrinsic value of undertaking a worthwhile activity. It’s about being part of something that is of vital importance. We have an opportunity to reshape the way Canada looks at labour. We encourage labour organizations to thrive and become part of our vital democracy. There are tough decisions ahead and when we decide we are up to the challenge, the process it will definitely be rewarding and could even be fun!
Let’s make a revolution!
[1] The Century Initiative was founded in late-2009 as the Laurier Project Foundation by Mark Wiseman and Dominic Barton, who was the head of McKinsey & Company at the time, along with other "prominent Canadians."
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Initiative.
“We advocate for policies to increase Canada's population to 100 million by 2100. And we support the long-term thinking and planning required to manage this growth well – ensuring a high quality of life and standard of living for all Canadians”