The Canadian government has introduced a law empowering it to intervene in collective bargaining at Crown corporations. If passed, it would also give the government power over executive salaries.
Canada Post, the national train operator Via Rail, and the public broadcaster CBC were singled out as targets for the new legislation.
The government contends salaries at the crown corporations are higher than those in the private sector and must be brought into line.
Crown corporations were created in Canada to operate at arm’s length from the government. Will the new legislation compromise their independence? “We’ll just have to wait and see,” said Arthur Sweetman, professor in the department of economics at McMaster University in Hamilton. “We’re not going to know until we see how the government uses this new tool.”
A CBC union called the move a “ridiculous infringement” on the independence of the broadcaster. George Smith who teaches labour relations at Queen’s University and is a former CBC manager told the Globe and Mail it was “an unbelievable and unprecedented intervention of government into the free collective bargaining process.”
In favour of the legislation is Gregory Thomas of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Companies that are government owned but have independent boards of directors can be very irresponsible with decisions they make, especially with regards to executive compensation. And yet the taxpayer ends up holding the bag, paying the ticket,” he said in a telephone interview with CBC.
The changes were made in a much larger, omnibus piece of legislation so discussion in parliamentary committee will be limited.
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