Mark Carney: “Union Buster”
Ottawa, ON – Mark Carney is the first Prime Minister since 1909 to not have a Minister of Labour. This has sent shockwaves across labour groups in Canada (here and here).
This shouldn’t be a complete surprise. Mark Carney is a multi-millionaire investment banker, from Goldman Sachs to Brookfield. While Chair of Brookfield Asset Management, the company was accused of “union busting” by workers and organized labour on multiple occasions.
Mark Carney was the fund manager for Brookfield’s Global Transition Fund, which completed the purchase of nuclear company Westinghouse on November 7th, 2023.
Throughout 2023 and 2024, Brookfield has been accused of actively “union busting,” including “coercive statements, rules, and actions aimed at intimidating workers” who were organizing to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). This has included distributing anti-union leaflets, crossword puzzles, and videos.
Brookfield Asset Management has also been accused of anti-union activity at Sofitel Lafayette Square hotel in Washington, D.C. Hotel workers, who were described as “overwhelmingly immigrants, women, and people of color” were actively organizing to join the union UNITE HERE and the International Union of Operating Engineers.
US Representative Brandan Boyle (D-PA) urged Brookfield to take action against this anti-union activity, arguing “Brookfield stands to benefit from billions in taxpayer subsidies. It should take a stance against anti-union bullying immediately.”
This isn’t the only accusation of union busting at Brookfield-owned property. In May 2022, Brookfield Asset Management agreed to purchase the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn. Between 2022 and 2023, hotel management was actively participating in months of anti-union activities, including the hiring of Quest Consulting, a Las Vegas-based union avoidance consulting company. In May 2023, an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board found 43 violations of labour law.
STATEMENT FROM KYLE SEEBACK, THE CONSERVATIVE SHADOW MINISTER FOR LABOUR:
“Mark Carney is no friend of workers or labour. As an investment banker, Mark Carney shipped Canadian jobs and investment out of Canada. Now it has been exposed that, under his watchful eyes as Chairman of the Board, Brookfield-owned companies were actively union-busting and interfering in workers’ right to organize. Mark Carney should answer for this.
“Pierre Poilievre will re-establish a Ministry of Labour as the country has had for more than 100 years. A common-sense Conservative Government will always stand up and fight for workers – their jobs, their rights, and their health and safety on the job site.”