Patty Hajdu

Obviously this has been a challenging piece of work, but it’s been an amazing piece of work.

And that mediator's report — should it become public — is not going to be pleasant for a company's shareholders [or] their reputation in Canada and worldwide. Nobody wants to know that their shipper had a deal at the table and didn't pick…

In the past, if an employer was refusing to bargain or was removing things from previous offers or acting in a way that was not bargaining in good faith, the union members could talk about it, but they couldn't necessarily prove it,

It's meant to provide, first of all, another tool to parties to understand what the dynamics are and why they're struggling to get to that deal,

I think the pressure is extremely high when it's in a transportation sector that is transporting essential goods, transporting perishable goods.

The Liberals' proposed changes to the Canada Labour Code would bring some much-needed "sunlight" to collective bargaining in federally regulated sectors.

In terms of workers’ rights, we’re actually strengthening their rights.

“Ultimately, the government does not want to resolve the dispute for parties,” Hajdu said.

This clarity means that the minister will have to show his or her work clearly, outlining why the need for arbitration or other dispute mechanisms is necessary," she said.

In terms of workers' rights, we're actually strengthening their rights," she told reporters.

These changes mean that, as many people have called for, the labour minister must meet a higher bar before intervention is possible with this tool.

We are responding to a crisis and doing exactly what Canadians have asked us to.

Keeping skilled workers during slow times means that businesses can retain talent, and it helps workers weather tough times for their employers.

This is a disappointing development,

The federal government will always maintain that the strongest deals happen at the table.

Obviously, I have to leave it to the parties to characterize those talks, but they are very, very well supported by the Federal Mediation Service and we’re hopeful that they reach a negotiated agreement.

By collaborating with provinces and territories to remove barriers to skilled trades, we are equipping workers with the tools needed to succeed,

We need strong labour relations to reassure the world that we can get our products to market … but we also need the protections for unions when they feel their rights have been violated.

The goal of these consultations is to understand how to minimize those times where relationships are so frayed, where people are so angry with each other, that coming to an agreement about the next five years seems like an impossible task.

You’re trying to balance, obviously, all of the rights that people have to strike with the short- and long-term economic impact.

If you’re afraid of what the future looks like, it gets really hard to commit to long-term collective agreements.

The question is, what tools should be there for the minister of labour to foster industrial peace?

This government’s been clear we’re not going to — at all — touch a constitutional right to strike.

On average, families are saving about $11,000 per year, per child. That's a giant savings across the country.