Union talks break off at Canadian Pacific

Negotiations have reportedly stalled with striking workers at Canadian Pacific, but Labour Minister Lisa Raitt says conditions are in place to order employees back to work.

CP says the mediator withdrew this afternoon, which leaves the door open for the federal government to intervene to end the five-day-old strike.

Raitt says she the government is prepared to introduce legislation on Monday that would order 48-hundred CP employees back to work.

She also says the Canadian economy is still fragile, and the country can’t afford a prolonged strike.

The railway wants a less expensive contribution pension plan for new employees, but the union is trying to hand on to the existing, more costly, defined benefits pension plan.