The Quebec government wants the power to intervene in labour disputes that have disrupted public transit in Montreal since the start of November, which it says are holding the city’s residents hostage.
Labour Minister Jean Boulet said Tuesday he wants the ability to limit pressure tactics by workers of the Montreal transit agency. He said he will table a bill on Wednesday that would bring into force a new law giving the government broad power to end strikes.
“We must put an end to this conflict, which is causing so much pain in Montreal,” Boulet told reporters in Quebec City. “Public transportation in Montreal is literally an essential service. We cannot tolerate this.”
A strike by the transit agency’s 2,400 maintenance workers – the third so far this year – began on the evening of Oct. 31 and is scheduled to last until Nov. 28, limiting bus and subway service in Montreal to peak hours and late evenings. Meanwhile, the union representing the agency’s 4,500 bus drivers and subway operators has planned a two-day strike this weekend, following a one-day strike on Nov. 1 that halted all service.
The maintenance workers’ strike was set to end just as the government’s new labour law was scheduled to take effect on Nov. 30. The law, adopted in the spring, gives the labour minister the power to end a dispute by imposing binding arbitration when a strike or lockout is deemed harmful to the public. It also expands the kinds of services that must be maintained during a labour dispute to include those that ensure “the well-being of the population.”
The union representing the maintenance workers says the law removes the incentive for employers to negotiate, and allows them to wait until the government intervenes to end a work stoppage.
Boulet told reporters that his proposal to enact the law earlier than planned would allow him to increase the level of service that must be maintained during the drivers’ strike. It would also allow him to end the maintenance workers’ strike by submitting it to arbitration “if there is serious harm to the population and mediation is unsuccessful,” he said.
“We must ensure that the law comes into effect as quickly as possible to put an end to the nightmare that so many people in Montreal are experiencing,” he added.
Boulet will need the support of Quebec’s three main opposition parties to fast-track the bill through the provincial legislature. But on Tuesday, a member of the national assembly from the left-leaning Québec Solidaire, Alexandre Leduc, said the opposition party will not back the government, accusing Boulet of “adding fuel to the fire” by trying to intervene in the disputes.
Boulet did not rule out the possibility the government could adopt a motion to limit debates in the national assembly and rush through the legislation.
In a statement Tuesday, the maintenance workers’ union said Boulet’s decision shows the government “prefers to attack workers’ rights once again rather than adequately fund public transit.” Negotiations with the transit agency have been advancing and were continuing on Tuesday, the union said. The major sticking points in the talks have been wage increases and the outsourcing of some maintenance work. The agency has said the workers’ salary demands far exceed its ability to pay.
Meanwhile, Montreal’s mayor-elect, Soraya Martinez Ferrada, is asking the unions to end their pressure tactics before the province intervenes, arguing that “Montrealers have suffered enough.”
“What I’m saying to the unions and what I’m saying to the (transit agency) is: hurry up and negotiate,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2025.
– By Maura Forrest in Montreal with files from Thomas Laberge in Quebec City and Lia Lévesque in Montreal
