Tom Mulcair: The government’s back-to-work order was Carney’s first major blunder

CTV News political commentator Tom Mulcair says the Carney government’s back to work order is ‘one of the worst messes’ they’ve made since being elected.

Tom Mulcair is a former leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017, and a columnist for CTVNews.ca.

Prime Minister Mark Carney got burned in the Air Canada debacle, and it’s his government’s first real failure.

Carney was understated in expressing his frustration when it became clear that the union representing flight attendants would defy an order to end their strike, saying simply that he was “disappointed.”

It was telling that he didn’t try to put blame on the union. He understands that the nature of labour relations, like any relationship, is that there are two sides. Carney was warning his ministers and in particular his jobs minister, Patty Hajdu, that he expected better of them. It’s a warning they should heed.

Air Canada has had it far too easy since it ceased being a Crown corporation. It gets to play the big private corporation while at the same time relying on a historically cozy relationship with Ottawa to always get its way.

The instantaneous back-to-work ruling by the Canada Industrial Relations Board drew attention to its new head, lawyer Maryse Tremblay. She was appointed within days of Carney’s election victory. She is a highly regarded jurist, but her resumé includes long stints as an attorney for Air Canada. Not only must justice be done; justice must be seen to be done and the union cried foul.

This one blew up in Ottawa’s face and it will be a good thing for all Canadian travellers if the normal rules of the game start applying to Air Canada. A level playing field can lead to more competition and better prices for air travellers across this vast country of ours.

When Air Canada was privatized, the rules were set down in a law adopted by Parliament. Air Canada broke that law. I remember vividly when, in 2016, shortly after coming to power, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals brought in legislation to let Air Canada off the hook. They changed the rules retroactively.

It was galling and so egregious that it resulted in a rare tie vote in the House of Commons but would nonetheless later pass into law. In 2015, the Quebec Court of Appeal had ruled that Air Canada had violated the Air Canada Public Participation Act because it had failed to maintain overhaul centres in Winnipeg, Montreal and Mississauga after the shutdown of Aveos, a company that Air Canada had spun off.

Then, in 2016, the Liberal government introduced Bill C-10, which amended that Air Canada law retroactively. The wording applied “as if it had always read this way,” meaning Air Canada’s illegal actions were made legal retroactively. Talk about power and influence. You get caught breaking the law but you convince the lawmakers to change the rules to erase the offence.

It’s that sense of entitlement at Air Canada that again was on display this week: ‘Nothing to worry about here, we’re Air Canada and we always get our way.’

Then something happened. National CUPE president Mark Hancock tore up the back-to-work order. I know Hancock and he’s anything but a hothead or a showboat. He’s honest, deliberative and a straight shooter. He also knows right from wrong and sensed in his gut, correctly, that Canadians were on the side of the flight attendants.

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Taking stock of the shambles his government had made of the situation, Carney’s team used all of their influence to get everyone back to the bargaining table. Lo and behold, it only took a night of serious, good faith bargaining to settle the outstanding issues, including unpaid work. But that’s little solace to the tens of thousands of travellers who remain stuck as a result of this mess.

Carney is a quick study and as he and his closest advisors take the full measure of this debacle, there are important lessons to be learned. The first is that labour rights are Charter rights. During the election campaign, Carney would often be asked if the federal government would weigh in against discriminatory Quebec legislation before the Supreme Court. He had a ready-made answer: The Liberals are the party of the Charter.

The Canadian Supreme Court, in a series of rulings, has made unionization and collective bargaining an offshoot of freedom of association and expression, guaranteed by the Charter. With some exceptions, that includes the right to withhold your services, to strike.

The second big lesson learned is that you need unions and other social partners on side to carry out the sort of massive restructuring of the federal government that is required after nine years of bureaucracy under Trudeau. No social peace, no changes.

Carney has said time and again that he ran to accomplish big things for Canada. So far, Canadians believe him and accord him their support and confidence. That can change very quickly and the debris field left by the Air Canada wreck should be a lesson in humility for his team.

More from Tom Mulcair:

• Opportunity knocks for the NDP; will they answer?
• Quebec government’s lack of moral compass on human rights is affecting campus life
• Carney can take on Trump, but he’s got big challenges at home, too