As the CUPE 3903 strike at York has gone on with little end in sight, the Ontario government has called a Commission of Industrial Inquiry today to look into the outstanding issues and see if there are steps to be taken to address them.

For those not familiar with Commissions of Industrial Inquiry, they can be appointed by the Minister of Labour under section 37 of the Labour Relations Act, SO 1995, c 1, Schedule A, s 37.   They have the power to examine any evidence and to report their findings to the Minister.  Note that they are not an arbitrator, so they cannot end the strike by imposing any terms.  They are only there to look at the issues and to suggest ways to resolve them.

For anyone who wants more information on Inquiries, a good place to start is this book:

Ronda Bessner & Susan Lightstone, Public inquiries in Canada: Law and Practice (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2017).  KF 5422 B57 2017 - in Osgoode library stacks