Under the guise of boosting the Canadian economy and eliminating interprovincial trade barriers, the Carney Liberals are attempting to ram through legislation that poses serious threats to workers’ rights, environmental protections, and Indigenous sovereignty. CUPE is calling on the federal government to reconsider Bill C-5, the so-called “One Canadian Economy” Act.
The bill would allow the federal government to recognize any province’s rules and regulations for goods, services and labour so long as they are “comparable” to federal requirements. These rules include standards for workplace safety, environmental protection, and the delivery of vital services such as child care and health care. The move would create a race to the bottom where provinces with higher standards are pressured to lower them in order to become more competitive with jurisdictions with weaker regulations. Governments should be harmonizing to the highest standard so that workers and communities in all parts of the country are afforded the strongest protections.
The bill would also allow the federal cabinet to fast-track projects like pipelines and other infrastructure it deems to be in the “national interest”, meaning the prime minister can arbitrarily decide which projects to rubber stamp without fully consulting Indigenous peoples or assessing the environmental impacts. Without the usual public oversight that infrastructure projects receive, corporate lobbyists are likely to have an outsized influence over what gets built where, and by whom.
CUPE has already warned that the economic benefits of dismantling regulatory standards that differ between provinces (mislabeled as ‘trade barriers’) are vastly overstated. Now, the Carney Liberals, bolstered by Poilievre’s Conservatives, are pushing Bill C-5 through without proper study or consultation. CUPE urges the government to slow the process and work with unions and Indigenous peoples to develop solutions for Canada’s economy that protect public services and support working people.