LEGAL REPORT: LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT
BY KELLY HARRIS I
constitutionalfight Labour law central to decision highlights division of powers battle.
f there is a battle being waged over the tenants of Canada's Constitution and the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms, the ground where the fight is taking place could very well be in labour and employment law. In recent years, the Supreme Court of Canada has been called upon to decide on myr- iad constitutional challenges, including the Charter obligations of jurisdictions or employers. Heenan Blaikie LLP senior labour lawyer John Craig says this shows the
real work on defining the Canadian Constitution is being accomplished by labour lawyers, "labour law has really become the focal point of constitutional law." To that end, he advises his students at the University of Western Ontario law school if they are interested in constitu- tional law, then labour and employment is the place to be. "I always say to my students if you really want to be a con- stitutional lawyer at the core, and argue about these issues, then become a labour lawyer, because it is the labour lawyers
who are doing all the heavy lifting on the constitutional law side." To illustrate his point, Craig calls to
mind a pair of cases where the Supreme Court has been asked to consider a Canadian's right to collective bargaining. First there was the Health Services and Support - Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, which is held up as protecting collective bargaining rights for Canadian workers and unions. Secondly, in Fraser v. Ontario, a case dealing with the exclusion of agricultural
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ANTHONY TRAMAGLIA
