Submission to the consultation to strengthen labour relations and better support workers

Re: Pulse Canada Submission to the consultation to strengthen labour relations and better support workers

Dear Minister Hajdu,

Pulse Canada welcomes the opportunity to provide input to Employment and Social Development Canada’s consultation on strengthening Canada’s federal labour relations framework.

Pulse Canada represents growers, processors and exporters of Canadian pulses, including peas, lentils, beans, chickpeas and faba beans. Canada is one of the world’s most important suppliers of pulses, and our sector depends on a reliable, efficient and predictable transportation system to serve customers in more than 130 markets around the world.

This consultation is timely and important. Canada’s pulse sector respects collective bargaining and supports fair outcomes for workers and employers. However, recent transportation labour disruptions have demonstrated that the current federal framework does not adequately protect the broader public and economic interest when rail and port disputes threaten to shut down essential trade corridors.

The pulse sector depends on reliable trade corridors

Pulses are among Canada’s most export-dependent crops. Approximately 80% of Canadian pulses are exported, and in 2025 Canadian pulse exports were valued at approximately $3.7 billion. Canada is also the largest global exporter of pulses, followed by Australia, Myanmar and the United States.

This export dependence means that transportation reliability is a primary issue for the pulse sector that is central to our competitiveness. When Canada cannot move product on time, customers do not simply wait. They adjust sourcing, reroute supply chains, and in some cases shift business to competing origins.

Pulse and special crops are particularly exposed to labour disruptions because they often move through containerized and multimodal supply chains. These crops make up a significant share of containerized grain exports, which rely on inland source-loading, port transload facilities, container availability, marine terminal access and container vessels. As a result, they remain vulnerable during rail and port work stoppages, and are not fully protected by existing statutory provisions that apply primarily to bulk grain moving through licensed terminals

Labour disruptions impose immediate and lasting economic damage

Earlier this year, Anderson Economic Group prepared an economic analysis of the impact of transportation labour disruptions on Canada’s grain sector. The findings confirm that rail and port disruptions create severe economic harm.

A one-week combined rail and port work stoppage during peak export season is estimated to cost the grain sector approximately $540 million. A one-week stoppage involving both CN and CPKC is estimated to cost approximately $507 million.

The report also found that lost sales are the primary driver of economic losses. This is important because lost sales are not simply deferred revenue. In a capacity-constrained export system, missed sales often cannot be recovered. The same report found that disruption impacts begin before a work stoppage occurs, as rail and port operations slow in anticipation of labour action, leading to up to $112 million in lost sales before a stoppage even begins in a peak-period rail-and-port scenario.

The report also emphasizes the long-term reputational consequences of repeated disruptions. Canada’s pulse sector competes in markets where reliability matters. Repeated rail and port disruptions undermine Canada’s reputation as a dependable supplier and increase the risk that customers permanently shift to other suppliers.

Reform must reduce the chance that labour disputes shut down essential trade corridors

Pulse Canada supports reforms that preserve collective bargaining while creating a clearer, earlier and more predictable pathway to resolution where transportation labour disputes could create systemic economic harm.

The objective should not be to choose between workers and shippers. The objective should be to ensure that the labour relations framework works for workers, employers, shippers, customers and the broader Canadian economy.

Pulse Canada recommends that the Government of Canada prioritize the following reforms.

1. Create a special mediator role with early appointment authority

Pulse Canada strongly supports creating a special mediator role for high-risk disputes in federally regulated transportation.

The special mediator should be available early in the bargaining cycle where the risk of disruption is foreseeable and have the authority to oversee the process, establish clear timelines, require meaningful participation from the parties, receive information on economic and supply chain impacts, and advise the Minister and the public when negotiations are no longer progressing toward agreement.

This would strengthen collective bargaining by encouraging earlier resolution and reducing brinkmanship.

1. Clarify section 107 and establish a predictable last-resort pathway where bargaining is at impasse

Pulse Canada supports clarifying section 107 of the Canada Labour Code to provide greater transparency and predictability around when and how the Minister may act where a labour dispute threatens nationally significant economic harm.

Section 107 has already been used to direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration and support the resumption of operations in major transportation disputes. However, the current framework leaves too much uncertainty about the criteria for intervention, the point at which intervention may occur, and how prospective economic harm should be assessed. This uncertainty creates risk for all parties and makes it harder for shippers to plan, contract, manage customer commitments and protect Canada’s reputation as a reliable supplier.

The Code should be amended to provide clear criteria and an explicit statutory pathway - whether through clarification of section 107 or a purpose-built authority - for the Minister or Governor in Council to direct the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to move the parties to binding arbitration or take other necessary steps to secure industrial peace and avoid disproportionate harm to the national economy.

This mechanism should not replace collective bargaining. Rather, it should provide a credible and predictable backstop when negotiations have failed, and the consequences of inaction would fall heavily on producers, exporters, workers, communities and customers who have no seat at the bargaining table. Clear criteria would reduce reliance on ad hoc intervention, improve confidence in the fairness of the process, and provide greater certainty to workers, employers and supply chain users.

1. Ensure baseline continuity for essential trade corridor movement

Pulse Canada recommends that the Government examine mechanisms to maintain a defined baseline level of movement through essential trade corridors during federally regulated transportation labour disputes.

Any continuity mechanism should be designed to preserve bargaining rights while ensuring that a dispute does not fully shut down the movement of essential export commodities. For the pulse sector, this is particularly important because a significant share of exports depend on containers, transloaders, container terminal and vessel access, which are highly sensitive to even short interruptions.

A short work stoppage also produces impacts well beyond the period of the actual interruption. Rail and port networks require time to wind down safely before a stoppage and to restart operations afterward, and constrained capacity means that missed movements cannot be recovered immediately. As a result, a one-week interruption can create several weeks of disrupted or below-normal service, while a longer stoppage can take months to fully absorb. For exporters, this extended recovery period affects contract execution, vessel cut-offs, container availability, customer confidence and Canada’s ability to maintain reliable trade flows.

1. Strengthen the negotiation process tools

Pulse Canada also supports complementary reforms, including:

• mandatory early bargaining timelines;
• longer and more operationally realistic notice periods for strike or lockout in rail and port disputes;
• conciliation and cooling-off periods that create genuine settlement pressure rather than procedural delay;
• expedited grievance arbitration to address workplace issues before they accumulate into the next round of bargaining; and

Conclusion

Canada’s pulse sector depends on reliable rail and port service to compete in global markets. Recent labour disruptions have shown that the current framework does not provide sufficient predictability for trade-dependent sectors that are not parties to the dispute but bear immediate and lasting costs.

Canada cannot build a stronger, more diversified and more reliable export economy if recurring transportation labour disruptions continue to shut down the corridors that connect Canadian agriculture to the world.

Pulse Canada urges the Government of Canada to modernize the Canada Labour Code in a way that supports collective bargaining, improves early dispute resolution, and protects the national economic interest when essential trade corridors are at risk.