NDP leader sees 'hot summer' ahead if labour code update affects right to strike

Leader of the NDP Avi Lewis speaks to reporters in the in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Wednesday, May 27, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Avi Lewis is promising a “hot summer” of organized labour action if the right to strike is threatened by any revisions to the Canada Labour Code.

While government consultations on modernizing federal labour relations concluded on Monday, the government has not said yet what — if anything — it intends to do with the labour code.

Parliament is preparing to debate a private member’s bill, sponsored by Manitoba NDP MP Leah Gazan, that looks to remove section 107 of the Canada Labour Code. That clause gives the minister the power to intervene in a labour dispute and to end a strike.

The Canadian Labour Congress says the ministerial back-to-work power has been used eight times since June 2024. It was used as recently as last summer, when it was deployed to end a flight attendant strike just hours after it began.

Representatives of rail and airline unions who joined Lewis for a Wednesday press conference said their employers are using the clause to avoid bargaining in good faith.

Lewis said Prime Minister Mark Carney will “face the political fight of his life” if the right to strike comes under any kind of attack.

“We saw immense popular support and a huge surge in union activism, people in the streets, people in front of airports, people at provincial legislatures across the country, standing up for the fundamental right to be paid for work,” Lewis said, referring to the response to the end of last summer’s Air Canada strike.

“The Carney government, if they go after the right to strike in these labour code consultations, is going to provoke another uprising and it will be a very hot summer if they do.”

Natasha Stea, an Air Canada flight attendant representative, said the section of the labour code is undermining bargaining rights.

“Our CEO told the whole world that he was not ready to prepare for an eventual strike or anything because he didn’t have to, because he had 107. So why are they coming to the tables?” she said at Wednesday’s press conference.

“It is one-sided. It is muzzling the Canadians, removing rights, and also just the pendulum is only on one side for corporations to be able to keep on profiting and not paying their employees.”

Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said last year the government maintains that the best deals are made at the bargaining table, but the effect of the Air Canada work stoppage on the economy and travellers was too detrimental to be allowed to continue. She mandated that both sides return to the table with binding arbitration.

A public consultation period on potential reforms to the Canada Labour Code concluded earlier this week.

The consultation gathered feedback on potential changes to section 107.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2026.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press