FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 21, 2024

Bill C-58 is a big step forward in recognising that labour unions are an important institution that protects workers. The use of replacement workers undermines this institution. Banning replacement workers is something that all sides of the political spectrum can and should support. Workers need to see the emergence of a political consensus on this issue.

But Bill C-58 should only be a part of a policy agenda for defending and supporting the working class. Cardus research shows that the working-class stereotype – a male, blue-collar worker in the goods-producing sector – no longer holds. Today, a working-class Canadian is as likely to be a female, recently immigrated worker in the services-producing sector.

Our leaders must update their perceptions of Canada’s new working class and make policies that reflect who they are today. This includes:

• Resolving the housing crisis for working-class Canadians
• Relocating public transit hubs around new housing
• Recognising immigrants’ foreign credentials more quickly and easily
• Reducing Canada’s dependence on temporary foreign workers in favour of permanent residents and immigrants
• Redirecting child care funding to parents directly to allow maximum flexibility for working-class families
• Rebalancing education subsidies to better reflect the needs of the economy and the opportunities available to working-class Canadians

– Renze Nauta, Work & Economics Program Director at Cardus, a public policy think tank

MEDIA INQUIRIES
Daniel Proussalidis
Cardus – Director of Communications
613-899-5174
media@cardus.ca

Cardus – Imagination toward a thriving society
Cardus is a non-partisan think tank dedicated to clarifying and strengthening, through research and dialogue, the ways in which society’s institutions can work together for the common good.