Business
Law prohibiting replacement workers will worsen Canadian services, says MEI
From the Montreal Economic Institute
Without replacement workers, CPKC and CN strike could impact commuter rail in large Canadian cities.
Ottawa’s proposed ban on the use of temporary replacement workers during work stoppages will significantly disrupt vital services, asserts the Montreal Economic Institute in a study released this morning.
“Banning the use of replacement workers for federally regulated industries will enable small groups of unionized employees to stop key transportation infrastructure from working,” explains Gabriel Giguère, public policy analyst at the MEI and author of the study. “Our trains, airports, and seaports could effectively be at risk of shutting down whenever a union needs to settle a wage dispute.”
On May 27, the House of Commons adopted Bill C-58, which will prohibit the use of temporary replacement workers during labour disputes between employees and employers in federally regulated sectors once it takes effect, 12 months after receiving royal assent.
Unionized workers will continue to be able to seek temporary employment elsewhere, whereas federally regulated employers will be unable to continue operations, which would impact the entire Canadian economy.
This announcement comes just as unionized employees of Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC) and Canadian National (CN) prepare to strike simultaneously.
The adoption of Bill C-58 ensures that work stoppages in sectors including banking, telecommunications, and rail and air travel will be even more detrimental to the Canadian economy than under the current regulatory framework.
Quebec and British Columbia have similar laws in place provincially, and these tend to make work stoppages longer and more frequent there than in provinces without such legislation.
In the context of upcoming rail strikes, the banning of replacement workers means that thousands of Canadians who use commuter rail to get to work would be stranded or would add to road congestion.
The researcher gives the example of CPKC’s 80 Calgary-based rail traffic controllers which, if they go on strike after the law goes into effect, would prevent commuter rail traffic on a number of important transit lines.
“Trains can’t move on a railroad unless you have rail traffic controllers, and a number of key transit lines use CPKC’s infrastructure,” explains Giguère. “In the absence of replacement workers, any strike action on their part could shut down TransLink’s West Coast Express, GO Transit’s Milton Line, and Exo’s Candiac, Saint-Jérôme, and Vaudreuil/Hudson lines.
“That’s a whole lot of power to put in the hands of 80 or so unionized staff.”
The MEI study is available here.
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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policy-makers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
You’ve probably heard by now the blockbuster news that Microsoft founder Bill Gates, one of the richest people to ever walk the planet, has had a change of heart on climate change.
For several decades Gates poured billions of dollars into the climate industrial complex.
Some conservatives have sniffed that Bill Gates has shifted his position on climate change because he and Microsoft have invested heavily in energy intensive data centers.
AI and robotics will triple our electric power needs over the next 15 years. And you can’t get that from windmills.
What Bill Gates has done is courageous and praiseworthy. It’s not many people of his stature that will admit that they were wrong. Al Gore certainly hasn’t. My wife says I never do.
Although I’ve only once met Bill Gates, I’ve read his latest statements on global warming. He still endorses the need for communal action (which won’t work), but he has sensibly disassociated himself from the increasingly radical and economically destructive dictates from the green movement. For that, the left has tossed him out of their tent as a “traitor.”
I wish to highlight several critical insights that should be the starting point for constructive debate that every clear-minded thinker on either side of the issue should embrace.
(1) It’s time to put human welfare at the center of our climate policies. This includes improving agriculture and health in poor countries.
(2) Countries should be encouraged to grow their economies even if that means a reliance on fossil fuels like natural gas. Economic growth is essential to human progress.
(3) Although climate change will hurt poor people, for the vast majority of them it will not be the only or even the biggest threat to their lives and welfare. The biggest problems are poverty and disease.
I would add to these wise declarations two inconvenient truths: First: the solution to changing temperatures and weather patterns is technological progress. A far fewer percentage of people die of severe weather events today than 50 or 100 or 1,000 years ago.
Second, energy is the master resource and to deny people reliable and affordable energy is to keep them poor and vulnerable – and this is inhumane.
If Bill Gates were to start directing even a small fraction of his foundation funds to ensuring everyone on the planet has access to electric power and safe drinking water, it would do more for humanity than all of the hundreds of billions that governments and foundations have devoted to climate programs that have failed to change the globe’s temperature.
Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity and a former Trump senior economic advisor.
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
At Tesla’s Austin headquarters, investors backed Musk’s 12-step plan that ties his potential trillion-dollar payout to a series of aggressive financial and operational milestones, including raising the company’s valuation from roughly $1.4 trillion to $8.5 trillion and selling one million humanoid robots within a decade. Musk hailed the outcome as a turning point for Tesla’s future.
“What we’re about to embark upon is not merely a new chapter of the future of Tesla but a whole new book,” Musk said, as The New York Times reported.
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The decision cements investor confidence in Musk’s “moonshot” management style and reinforces the belief that Tesla’s success depends heavily on its founder and his leadership.
Tesla Annual meeting starting now
https://t.co/j1KHf3k6ch— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2025
“Those who claim the plan is ‘too large’ ignore the scale of ambition that has historically defined Tesla’s trajectory,” the Florida State Board of Administration said in a securities filing describing why it voted for Mr. Musk’s pay plan. “A company that went from near bankruptcy to global leadership in E.V.s and clean energy under similar frameworks has earned the right to use incentive models that reward moonshot performance.”
Investors like Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood defended Tesla’s decision, saying the plan aligns shareholder rewards with company performance.
“I do not understand why investors are voting against Elon’s pay package when they and their clients would benefit enormously if he and his incredible team meet such high goals,” Wood wrote on X.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, Norges Bank Investment Management — one of Tesla’s largest shareholders — broke ranks, however, and voted against the pay plan, saying that the package was excessive.
“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk,” the firm said.
The vote comes months after Musk wrapped up his short-lived government role under President Donald Trump. In February, Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team sparked a firestorm when they announced plans to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development, drawing backlash from Democrats and prompting protests targeting Musk and his companies, including Tesla.
Back in May, Musk announced that his “scheduled time” leading DOGE had ended.
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