The clash is about more than building projects faster: it is about who sets the terms of Canada’s economic transformation. The federal government says faster approvals, fewer internal trade barriers and public investment will strengthen the economy; unions question whether workers will have a meaningful voice, protected bargaining rights and access to secure, union-quality jobs.
What Carney’s economic overhaul changes
In March 2025, Mark Carney described a plan to build “one strong Canadian economy” by unlocking projects and removing barriers. The government committed to legislation eliminating federal barriers to interprovincial trade and labour mobility. The One Canadian Economy Act, Bill C-5, received royal assent on June 26, 2025, enacting both the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act.
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The package is broader than project approvals. The government has presented industrial policy, infrastructure development and worker-transition supports as parts of an effort to make Canada more resilient to trade shocks, including the effects of U.S. tariffs. In September 2025, its strategic-industry package added a Buy Canadian Policy, business financing and tariff-response measures, a Major Projects Office, and plans for a Trade Diversification Strategy and Build Canada Homes.
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What unions say is at stake
Collective bargaining and the use of section 107
The Canadian Labour Congress said in a September 2025 statement that repeated federal interventions under section 107 of the Canada Labour Code interfere with collective bargaining. CUPE’s winter 2026 publication makes a related argument, saying the government is not adequately listening to workers. It points to the Air Canada flight-attendant dispute as a case in which the government used section 107 to end a strike. These are the organizations’ criticisms of the government’s actions, not independent findings about the legal merits of each intervention.
CUPE framed its position in the title of that winter 2026 publication: “Mark Carney is not listening to workers — we have to make him.” That is advocacy language, not a neutral assessment of the government’s relationship with all workers or unions.
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Fast-tracking, rights and job quality
United Steelworkers argued that Bill C-5 opens the possibility of overriding labour and Indigenous rights. The union urged the federal government to use industrial and trade policies to protect jobs, support local production and ensure public investment creates good union jobs in Canada. This is a warning about the law’s possible implications; it should not be mistaken for a legal determination that rights have been overridden.
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That concern points to a practical question: whether project speed and investment certainty will be balanced by meaningful consultation, enforceable job standards and respect for collective bargaining. Fast-tracking can be presented as a way to move investment forward, but unions want to know who has influence over the resulting projects and who benefits from the work.
What the government says workers can gain
Government policy documents do not describe unions as outsiders to the transformation. The 2026–2030 Sustainable Jobs Action Plan identifies community-benefit agreements, prevailing-wage requirements, unionized-labour provisions and Buy Canadian policies as tools to help workers share in the benefits of public investment. Its planned Workforce Alliances likewise envisage unions as potential partners.
The government has also attached large funding and recruitment commitments to its resilience agenda. The figures below refer to different kinds of support and should not be treated as equivalent measures of money spent or results achieved.
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| Commitment | What the figure means |
|---|---|
| Strategic Response Fund | Employment and Social Development Canada’s 2026 Sustainable Jobs Action Plan assigns $5 billion over six years starting in 2025–26 to large-scale projects intended to build resilience in industries affected by trade disruption. |
| Budget 2025 supports | The Department of Finance Canada said in 2025 that Budget 2025 announced more than $25 billion in supports for workers and businesses affected by economic disruption. Its projected cost was more than $12 billion on an accrual basis over five years starting in 2025–26—not the same measure as the announced support total. |
| Team Canada Strong | The Prime Minister of Canada announced the nationwide recruitment plan in 2026 with a target of up to 100,000 skilled-trades workers. It includes expanding the Union Training and Innovation Program for union-run training centres; the target is not a completed recruitment result. |
Where the two sides’ priorities collide
| Issue | Government’s stated approach | Labour organizations’ concerns |
|---|---|---|
| Project speed and investment | Remove internal barriers, advance major projects and make Canada’s economy more integrated and resilient. | Moving projects faster should not sideline workers’ influence or other rights. |
| Worker voice and bargaining | Include unions and industry groups as potential partners in Workforce Alliances and use worker-support programs. | The Canadian Labour Congress and CUPE criticize section 107 interventions as interference with collective bargaining and say workers are not being heard adequately. |
| Job quality | Use prevailing wages, community-benefit agreements, unionized-labour provisions and Buy Canadian policies to spread benefits. | United Steelworkers wants industrial and trade policy to protect jobs and ensure public investment produces good union jobs at home. |
| Indigenous rights | The cited government measures describe a faster project and investment agenda. | United Steelworkers warns that Bill C-5 could open the possibility of overriding Indigenous as well as labour rights; that is the union’s critique, not a finding that such rights have been overridden. |
The disagreement is therefore not simply “pro-jobs versus anti-jobs.” It concerns the rules governing new projects: whether workers have a real role in shaping policy, whether bargaining rights are respected, and whether public investment is tied to job standards that unions consider meaningful. Government plans include provisions that could support unionized work, while selected labour organizations argue that the government’s use of its powers and its approach to fast-tracking may undermine worker voice or rights.
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What is established—and what remains unsettled
Bill C-5 became law on June 26, 2025, but that does not settle the debate over how its project powers will affect labour or Indigenous rights in practice. The available official parliamentary result confirms the act’s enactment; it does not establish the status of separate reported proposals concerning strike intervention or essential-service designations. Nor do the cited government and union statements establish a consensus among Canadian unions or measure public opinion.
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For workers, the most useful test is what happens as policies move from commitments to implementation: whether union participation is substantive, whether wage and community-benefit conditions are applied to funded projects, and how the government handles disputes over collective bargaining. The government’s plans describe tools and targets; the labour organizations’ statements identify risks they want addressed.
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