{"id":277459,"date":"2026-11-04T00:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T00:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/277459\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T00:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T00:26:10","slug":"airline-executives-praise-ottawas-proposed-labour-disruption-provisions-at-c-39-hearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/277459\/","title":{"rendered":"Airline executives praise Ottawa\u2019s proposed labour disruption provisions at C-39 hearings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

WestJet flight attendants hold a ‘Day of Action’ while union members vote on a possible strike in Calgary, July 14.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Business leaders, including Canadian airline executives, told MPs they welcome the federal government\u2019s legislation aimed at reducing the frequency of major labour disruptions, with WestJet\u2019s chief executive saying the bill will help make Canada more attractive to investors.<\/p>\n

Bill C-39 is a sweeping omnibus bill that references changes to nearly two dozen federal laws. It has two main goals: to fast-track the approval process for major projects such as pipelines or transmission lines, while also creating a new mediation process that would apply before Ottawa can intervene in bargaining disputes in federally regulated sectors.<\/p>\n

A special legislative committee has previously heard from labour union leaders, who strongly oppose the legislation, saying it will curtail workers\u2019 right to strike and will ultimately be challenged in court.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the committee heard from three airline executives: Air Canada vice-president of labour relations Mike Abbott, Air Transat senior director of labour relations and negotiations Irene Chrisanthopoulos, and WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech.<\/p>\n

Mr. von Hoensbroech said labour action should be a last resort and that strikes hurt investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour stability is one of the prime topics that international investors are looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Both Air Canada and WestJet have faced shutdowns in recent years owing to labour strikes, while Air Transat narrowly avoided a pilot strike last year.<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s proposed labour code changes praised by industry, criticized by unions at C-39 hearings<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to ask a difficult question: Is it right that the union leadership can take a company and hundreds of thousands of Canadians through a strike simply because they can?\u201d Mr. von Hoensbroech asked members of the committee. \u201cThe right to strike is an important part of collective bargaining, and we respect it. But labour action should be about real disputes after every reasonable opportunity to reach a deal at the table has been exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s meeting was the committee\u2019s final round of hearings from witnesses. Members of Parliament must submit any proposed amendments by the end of the business day Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Future meetings will focus on debating potential amendments.<\/p>\n

The legislation, known as the Building Canada Strong Act, proposes changes to Section 107 of the Canada Labour Code. This section empowers the responsible minister to intervene to end a strike or lockout in a federally regulated workplace by asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order workers back to their jobs. Unions say the federal government has overused that power in recent years and have called for it to be scrapped.<\/p>\n

Bill C-39 also creates a new role for a \u201cspecial mediator,\u201d who would be appointed to work with employers and unions for 21 days when negotiations are at an impasse, then write a report if the dispute remains unresolved. The minister must evaluate that report before intervening. The government says these added steps place \u201cguardrails\u201d around that power, but unions say the bill makes future interventions more likely.<\/p>\n

What you need to know about Bill C-39, Canada\u2019s most consequential economic legislation in decades<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. von Hoensbroech urged MPs to amend the section so that the mediator has the power to extend the mediation process if they believe a deal is achievable. Secondly, he said Section 107 should be amended to give the government the power to act sooner, before a strike begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is particularly important in aviation. For WestJet, even a one-minute strike leads to four days of labour disruption. It takes about two days to safely bring down the network. Another two days to restore it. Our experience this summer showed exactly that dynamic,\u201d he said, in reference to the August strike<\/a> by flight attendants.<\/p>\n

Later in the day, MPs heard from a shipping executive who also called for amendments to strengthen the government\u2019s ability to intervene. <\/p>\n

Guillaum Dubreuil, Canada Steamship Lines\u2019 director of external affairs and government relations, said the current Canada Labour Code requirement that a union provide at least 72 hours notice of a strike should be extended to 15 days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we strongly believe in the right to strike, the current 72-hour notice period provides insufficient time for carriers, ports and customers to safely manage vessels and cargoes already in transit,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

During a separate panel Tuesday, the committee heard from Indigenous leaders, including Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who spoke about the legislation\u2019s provisions to speed up development.<\/p>\n

Fast-tracking projects under Bill C-39 risks \u2018irreversible harm,\u2019 top scientists warn<\/a><\/p>\n

The AFN said C-39 is fundamentally flawed and cannot be fixed through amendments.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, this bill represents a mass dilution of environmental protection and First Nation rights,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

The AFN said the legislation fails to ensure proponents of major projects support First Nations through options such as ownership partnerships or revenue sharing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand Canada is at a crossroads in its relationship with First Nations. Our rights are under attack in new ways, and sadly, this bill is the latest example,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

With a report from Vanmala Subramaniam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: WestJet flight attendants hold a ‘Day of Action’ while union members vote on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[61,113],"class_list":["post-277459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ottawa","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}