Labour groups call on Carney to adopt a ‘true Team Canada approach’ to trade war

OTTAWA – As Ottawa prepares for talks with President Donald Trump’s White House to review the country’s most important trade pact, one part of the economy is warning it feels left out of Team Canada: organized labour.

Canadian labour leaders expressed frustration Wednesday with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government, accusing it of not being transparent enough with them on how trade talks are advancing with the Trump administration.

The heads of private and public sector labour groups huddled in the nation’s capital this week in advance of this year’s review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade, referred to on this side of the border as CUSMA.

When The Canadian Press asked more than a dozen representatives of the country’s largest unions at a Wednesday news conference if they felt looped in on the crucial trade talks, they laughed at the question.

Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said workers need to be at the “decision-making table” with government and that Ottawa’s communications with them should not be an afterthought.

“I think you’re hearing from my group here that we’re not thinking that we are getting enough focus and enough labour participation in the decisions that are being made,” Bruske said.

“Calling on us to have a meeting and to give us information after the fact, or to bring us in as a box-checking exercise, is not nearly sufficient. Workers in this country deserve better. They need to be at the decision-making table because the decisions that are being made by the negotiators absolutely have consequences for workers and their families.”

The union leaders called on Ottawa to come up with a “worker-first” economic strategy in response to Trump’s protracted trade war with Canada, which has pummeled blue-collar industries such as forestry, steel and the auto sector.

Unifor national director Lana Payne said workers must be at the centre of the government’s efforts for a “true Team Canada approach” to fighting the trade war.

“We can’t go into this CUSMA review with one hand tied behind our back, and if workers are not part of this process, we will have one hand tied behind our back. I don’t think that’s in anybody’s best interest,” she said.

“Workers know a lot about the industries that they work in. We know where the give and take can be. We know where a possible deal can be, and we also know how to negotiate. That’s kind of what we do for a living.”

Payne said thousands of unionized workers have lost their jobs and many more are finding themselves on the front lines of Trump’s trade war as he targets more sectors with economic threats.

Trump suddenly placed Bombardier in his crosshairs last week when he publicly mused about decertifying and tariffing Canadian-made aircraft.

Payne said workers on both sides of the border are paying the price for Trump’s tariffs as the U.S. manufacturing base shrinks.

She also said it’s a good thing Carney did not sign a “bad” trade deal last year with Trump, as other countries did while struggling under the pressure of heavy tariffs.

“Better no deal than a bad deal,” added Marty Warren, national director of the United Steelworkers union.

CUSMA, which was negotiated during Trump’s first term in the White House, entered into force on July 1, 2020 and comes with a mandatory review at the six-year mark.

Canada’s former top trade negotiator has warned Trump likely will attempt to ratchet up pressure on Canada and Mexico early this year by threatening to tear up the agreement.

The Trump administration has publicly suggested that pursuing separate bilateral deals, or even ending the agreement altogether, are all options on the table.