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The Labour Movement
in Canada
Excerpts taken from a series of broadcasts
presented by Prof. F. R. Scott, Faculty of
Law, McGill University.
Canada is now one of the great trading countries of the world. Her raw
materials and her manufactured goods are sent to markets in every continent,
and find customers in such distant places as India and Australia, South
Africa and Brazil. Though in population Canada ranks 24th among the
nations, in the total volume of her world trade she ranked 3rd among the
great powers in 1947.
This is a striking achievement for a young country. It could not have
occurred without a high degree of industrialisation and without the skill and
enterprise of the workers in the factories and on the farms who make this
production possible. The story of Canada’s growth in world markets is also
the story of the growth and organization of the Canadian working class.
This, in turn, is the story of the rise of the trade union movement in Canada.
For Canada, like other democratic nations, has developed a strong labour
movement, which has grown as her industry has grown, and which is an
important factor in the life of her people.
There are about one million workers in all Canadian unions today. By
comparison with many European countries, this is not a very large number.
Of Canada’s 13 million people, about 514 million are gainfully employed;
that is to say, they are working at some occupation either for themselves, for
an employer, or on a farm. If, from this total number of workers are
subtracted the professional and business men, the farmers, and others who
would not normally join a trade union, it leaves about 344 million who might
be possible members of trade unions. But only one million are actually organ-
ized. Thus it can be said that Canadian trade unions have only organized
about one-third of the workers, and that for every organized worker there are
two who are not.
But the fact that so many workers are not organized does not mean that
they are totally unprotected. Trade union wages extend to many workers
who are not members, and there is a great deal of labour legislation in Canada
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