RELEASE
November 26th, 2024 (Ottawa, ON) - According to a recent survey conducted by Nanos Research on behalf of the National Maritime Group, Canadians are concerned about the impact of labour disruptions in the supply chain and are looking to see the government take a more hands-on role in resolving these disputes, and the affordability and availability of day-to-day goods was a noted concern.
Specifically, Canadians are over three times more likely to prefer that the federal government intervene to ensure Canada’s transportation supply chain is reliable by ending shutdown by possibly ordering arbitrations than allow a labour strike or lock-out be allowed to possibly disrupt movement of foods and materials.
The survey reveals that, in the case of a labour dispute at a port or railway where negotiations and meaningful collective bargaining have failed, nearly three quarters of Canadians (71%) say it is more important that the Federal Government intervene to protect the public interest to ensure that Canada’s transportation supply chain of food and materials is reliable by ending shutdowns by possibly ordering binding arbitration. In contrast, under one quarter (22%) say it is more important that labour strikes be allowed to possibly disrupt the movement of food and materials.
“It is clear that Canadians prefer the federal government to intervene to end shutdowns in the case of labour disputes at ports and railways” said Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist at Nanos Research “Canadians are concerned about the availability and affordability of goods being impacted by supply chain disruptions and count on the federal government to intervene when negotiations and collective bargaining have failed.”
In fact, a majority of Canadians are concerned about both the affordability and the availability of goods being impacted by supply chain disruption (59% each). Canadians also show concern over Canada’s international reputation as a stable and reliable trading partner (52% concerned). Concern is higher for older Canadians (55 plus) than it is for younger Canadians (18-34) for both the affordability of goods (64% vs. 49%, respectively) and the availability of goods being impacted (65% vs. 46%, respectively).
Finally, Canadians aren’t convinced the federal government is doing enough to ensure labour stability and reliability of Canada’s critical supply chain as over two in five Canadians (45%) say the federal government is doing too little, while about one third (32%) say it is doing about the right amount of work. Under one in twenty said they think the federal government is doing too much (four per cent).
It is clear that Canadians are frustrated with the uncertainty of Canada’s supply chain, after having experienced labour disruptions at Canada’s two largest railways and three largest ports in recent months.
About the Research
This project was commissioned by the National Maritime Group and the research was conducted by Nanos Research. Nanos conducted an RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,010 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between November 4th and 6th, 2024 as part of an omnibus survey. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
To view the full report, the tabulations and methodology, please visit the Nanos Research website at nanos.co.
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About Nanos
As one of North America’s premier market and public opinion research firms, we put strategic intelligence into the hands of decision makers. The majority of our work is for private sector and public facing organizations and ranges from market studies, managing reputation through to leveraging data intelligence. Nanos Research offers a vertically integrated full service quantitative and qualitative research practice to attain the highest standards and the greatest control over the research process.
About the National Maritime Group
The National Maritime Group represents nearly 100 private sector maritime employers and operators from coast to coast and through the St. Lawrence, moving essential goods and providing well-paying family-supporting jobs in 14 Canadian ports across five provinces. National Maritime Group member companies support the movement of 340 million tonnes of cargo through Canadian ports annually, which directly and indirectly employs more than 35,000 Canadians working in port related operations. For more information, please visit www.nationalmaritimegroup.ca.
Contact
National Maritime Group
Nanos Research
Nik Nanos, Chief Data Scientist
613-234-4666 x237
Collective bargainingLabour strikeTransportationsupply chainfederal governmentLabourCanadaNational News
