Government Toughens Control over CBC, Via Rail and Canada Post

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

The federal government has announced its intention to take a hard line on collective bargaining rights, allowing it to have extensive new powers to maneuver independent Crown corporations on their negotiations with employees over wages and benefits. The three main crown corporations on top of their list include the CBC, Canada Post and Via Rail.

The unnoticed details were initially entailed in the budget bill for the first time this week, while the initial response from labour groups was converting from bewilderment to outrage, especially the workers at the CBC. The president of Treasury Board, Tony Clement, openly stated that the new hard line on Crown corporations “is part of a broader issue, which is aligning the public-service compensation and benefits to private-sector norms and expectations.” The Conservative government’s stance has brought it on the verge of a pending confrontation with public-sector unions, at both Crown corporations and core departments, which might reach its peak at the time of the next federal election in 2015.

As Ottawa overlooks the contract negotiations of all Crown corporations, while the government enlisted 49 names on its website, “there’s some that we’re going to key in on more than others,” Mr. Clement explained saying that that larger ones with “viability issues” will top the list. He commented on Canada Post, saying that “it’s common knowledge that they are struggling to re-imagine themselves with a declining demand.” Talking about Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he added that “CBC is always struggling to put out good content at a time of sometimes declining ad revenues and other revenues.”