Unifor president Lana Payne, left, and Mark Carney in Kitchener, Ont., in March, 2025, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on the auto sector.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
In mid-April, the federal government caught the country’s organized labour sector by surprise when it revealed plans to review the Canada Labour Code, the suite of laws that underpin work in federally regulated sectors, from airlines and railways to banks and telecoms.
Ottawa called the review an attempt to “modernize the federal labour relations framework,” and its announcement included proposals to change certain clauses regarding strikes in ways that would effectively make it more difficult for workers to launch work stoppages.
In labour circles, panic ensued. Union leaders publicly denounced the review, complaining that they weren’t given adequate notice and that consultations were being done in haste. They had roughly five weeks to prepare submissions.
Lana Payne, the head of Unifor, one of the country’s largest private sector unions (and the union representing some employees at The Globe and Mail), expressed frustration at the process, saying this was not the way code reviews have historically been done in Canada. There has not been an extensive review of the federal labour code since the 1990s.
Ms. Payne is a member of the PM's advisory committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations, a group consisting primarily of business leaders and industry voices.Galit Rodan
“They are very thoughtful processes that take time,” she said, adding that the government was going down a “very dangerous path.”
Ottawa has still not set a timeline for the review or for making any decisions to change the code. But to unions the message seems crystal clear: Labour voices are not a priority for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
Fifteen months into Mr. Carney’s tenure, union insiders, labour activists and lobbyists say that the Prime Minister’s Office displays a stark lack of interest in worker issues.
Mr. Carney’s inner circle rarely takes meetings with unions and does not sufficiently involve labour voices in consultations on important policy issues, according to 14 sources The Globe spoke to with first-hand knowledge of how the Prime Minister, his office and certain ministries have been engaging with unions over the past 15 months.
When it comes to labour relations, the tone coming out of the PMO is one of indifference, say the sources, who include senior leaders in both public sector and private sector unions, and labour policy experts who have been involved in consultations on workers’ issues both in the Carney government and under his predecessor Justin Trudeau.
Mr. Carney, centre, with executive director of Canada’s Building Trades Union Sean Strickland, right, and CBTU chair of the executive board Robert Kucheran during a trade union event in Gatineau in April.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Many of the sources said they believe the Prime Minister views unions as a footnote in the overall management of the country, and that his government prefers to move quickly rather than bring more voices to the table. The Globe is not identifying the sources so they could speak freely on their relationship with government.
There have been a series of concrete actions that have chafed the labour community.
When Mr. Carney announced his first postelection cabinet in May of 2025, he did not appoint a Minister of Labour. For more than a century, since the early 1900s, the labour portfolio had been managed by a full-fledged minister who was broadly in charge of union relations, workplace rights and overseeing the labour market. Those responsibilities have been shuffled to a secretary of state – John Zerucelli, a rookie MP representing Etobicoke, Ont. – who is working under Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu. Unions were deeply critical of the move.
Then in August, Mr. Carney directed Ms. Hajdu to put an end to a strike of 10,500 Air Canada flight attendants, hours after they defied a back-to-work order.
In August, Mr. Carney directed Jobs and Families Minister Patty Hajdu to put an end to the Air Canada flight attendant strike after they defied a back-to-work order.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
Mr. Carney also mandated last year that federal departments find 15 per cent of their budgets in savings, and signalled a desire to rework the machinery of the public service to make it more efficient and productive. The budget cuts have resulted in thousands of layoffs across the federal public service so far – albeit after extraordinary public sector job growth during the Trudeau years.
Now, unions in federally regulated sectors are facing potential curbs on their ability to strike.
One source, a senior union representative, said labour leaders had little clue the federal government was interested in amending the clauses on striking in the federal labour code.
The source added that in the Trudeau era, unions had a more direct line to the Prime Minister’s Office, and could get a sense ahead of time of where the government’s priorities lay.
This access presented an opportunity for unions to steer the PMO away from certain decisions that would negatively affect workers, the source said.
Renée LeBlanc Proctor, a spokesperson at the Prime Minister’s Office, said in a statement that Mr. Carney is committed to building solidarity with workers. The federal government has announced several initiatives to help workers affected by tariffs imposed by the United States, including improvements to employment insurance coverage. Additionally, Ottawa is investing $6-billion to recruit, train and hire 100,000 workers in the skilled trades by 2030, as announced in the spring fiscal update, she noted.
Mr. Carney meets unionized skilled trades workers at the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada office in Calgary in May.Todd Korol/Reuters
The PMO did not respond to specific questions about Mr. Carney’s relationship with unions or his approach to labour relations.
But several union leaders say they have minimal contact with the PMO, if any at all. And they fear that, without their input, labour policy changes could adversely affect workers.
For Ms. Payne, of Unifor, it is critical for the government to prioritize listening to the voices of unions at major consultations, especially on trade, and not just “inform” unions once decisions are made.
“We’re not here to just rubber stamp consultations,” she said.
Ms. Payne is a member of Mr. Carney’s advisory committee on Canada-U.S. Economic Relations, a group consisting primarily of business leaders and industry voices that was formed in April. She is one of two union voices in the 24-person committee; the other is Magali Picard, president of the Quebec Federation of Labour.
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In March of 2025, Ms. Payne stood with Mr. Carney at an announcement in Kitchener, Ont., shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on the auto sector. Mr. Carney later said in a statement that Ms. Payne is a “champion of workers” and that her advocacy was invaluable in the fight against tariffs.
After that initial meeting, their conversations were scant. The Prime Minister did not convene another meeting with labour leaders about tariffs until August, according to multiple sources. In those five months, major layoffs in the auto and steel sectors had taken place, and thousands of union members were out of work.
Bea Bruske, head of the Canadian Labour Congress, told The Globe she has never met Mr. Carney in person. Since his election, she has had one call with the Prime Minister, on budget day last year, a conversation she described as “cordial.”
Bea Bruske, head of the Canadian Labour Congress, says she hasn't met Mr. Carney in person.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
Her relationship with Mr. Carney’s predecessor was much different; Mr. Trudeau spoke at multiple CLC events in his time as prime minister and held a one-on-one meeting with Ms. Bruske in November, 2024, to discuss the election of Mr. Trump.
Ms. Bruske described the CLC’s relationship with the Carney government as a complicated one, emphasizing that it was not always easy to step into a comfortable working pattern with a new government, especially one that held a “different point of view” on labour issues.
“I think the Prime Minister meets more often with people he perceives are friendly or welcoming to his point of view,” she said. “Of course, I understand that the PM is a busy man, and we certainly do not expect frequent conversations, but I would urge the government, including ministries, to be contacting and consulting with us in a much more substantial way.”
Canadian Union for Public Employees president Mark Hancock has yet to meet with Mr. Carney or speak with him on the phone, a spokesperson for the union said in a statement. CUPE has a recent history of publicly opposing the federal government on a multitude of issues, namely defying a return-to-work order for Air Canada flight attendants last August by starting an unlawful strike.
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Two sources with knowledge of what took place behind the scenes during the Air Canada-CUPE negotiations said CUPE’s defiance last summer irked the Prime Minister and he is keen to avoid similar flashpoints in the future. Both sources also said the Air Canada strike similarly angered senior business leaders, prompting a campaign from large federal employers to amend sections of the labour code in order to make it tougher for workers to strike.
Canada’s overall unionization rate has declined modestly in recent decades, from around 35 per cent in the 1980s and 90s, to about 30 per cent in 2025.
But historically, labour relations have provided a crucial framework that guides governance in Ottawa, according to Jen Hassum, executive director of the Broadbent Institute, a left-leaning think tank.
“Some governments practise divide and conquer with labour: They have strong relationships with certain unions, and weak ones with others, depending on their policy platforms. But there’s no question that in Ottawa, the labour voice is a factor.”
Hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants picket at Pearson Airport in Toronto on Aug. 11, 2025, in a national 'day of action' organized by CUPE across four major Canadian airports.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Case in point: Canada’s Building Trades Unions, a conglomerate of more than a dozen trades and construction unions, appears to be more aligned with Mr. Carney’s government than other unions.
The union’s executive director, Sean Strickland, told The Globe that he has “nothing but praise” for the Prime Minister. “We had good access to the previous prime minister, but I would say better access in this administration. He’s moving things through the bureaucracy at a faster pace and making quicker decisions.”
Stephanie Ross, an associate professor of labour studies at McMaster University, pointed out that Mr. Carney is more of a technocrat in his governance style than his predecessor. “Rather than the kind of more messy, democratic form of governance where you’re looking at what different groups need, technocrats believe the experts know best and they should be driving policy.”
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Charles Smith, a political scientist at the University of Saskatchewan, notes that the Liberal Party has always been a “bit of a chameleon.”
“They try to walk this fine line between support for the business community and support for unions.” He characterized Mr. Carney as “very much a traditional Blue Liberal,” someone who perhaps feels more comfortable in a boardroom setting rather than a union hall.
But especially as this government pursues its Build Canada Strong agenda, Mr. Smith says he believes it is critical for Mr. Carney to develop closer ties with unions.
“At the end of the day, he’s going to have to deal with the unions often if he wants to build ports, railways, airports. These are federal workers. And good policy needs all voices, including alternative voices.”