Ottawa orders end to B.C., Montreal port shutdowns with binding arbitration

Labour Minister Steve MacKinnon said Tuesday he has directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to 'order that all operations and duties at the ports resume.'

The federal labour minister ordered an end to work stoppages at Canada’s largest ports in British Columbia and Quebec on Tuesday, imposing “final and binding arbitration” on the parties.

Dock workers at Canada’s busiest ports are both locked out after unions and employers failed to reach a deal at the table. Workers at the Port of Montreal took to the picket lines on Sunday night, joining their already locked-out peers at B.C. ports.

The labour action has stymied the flow of more than $1.2 billion worth of goods flowing through those channels on a daily basis.

Steve MacKinnon told reporters Tuesday that, despite directing the parties back to the table in recent days, there has been little progress in negotiations.

He said he has directed the Canada Industrial Relations Board to “order that all operations and duties at the ports resume and to assist the parties in settling their collective agreements by imposing final and binding arbitration.”

MacKinnon said he expected work to resume in “a matter of days.”

The order to restart operations includes workers at ports in B.C. and in Montreal, as well as longshoremen working at the Port of Quebec, who have now been locked out for more than two years.

This marks the second time in a matter of months that the Liberal government has imposed binding arbitration to end a labour stoppage, last using such powers to end a shutdown at Canada’s two largest railway companies in August.