NDP Will Stop American Billionaire-Backed Buyouts that Leave Canadian Workers Behind

TORONTO – As iconic Canadian companies like Hudson’s Bay are dismantled and sold off by foreign private equity firms, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced that an NDP government will bring in tough new rules to stop billionaire-backed investors from buying up Canadian businesses just to strip them for parts and abandon workers.

“Hudson’s Bay has been part of Canada since before Canada was even a country,” said Singh. “But now, an American hedge fund is walking away with the real estate while workers are left with nothing—not their wages, not their severance, not even a thank you. We are done letting that happen. New Democrats will stand up for Canadian workers, not Wall Street billionaires.”

The Hudson’s Bay Company, purchased by U.S.-based NRDC Equity Partners in 2008, has filed for creditor protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The move means layoffs without severance for 9,300 workers. Meanwhile, the company plans to pay $3 million in bonuses to executives, while workers represented by USW and Unifor are being left behind with no severance or backpay.

“It’s the same story every time,” said Singh. “Foreign private equity buys up a Canadian company. They extract the value, walk away with the profits, and leave workers to clean up the mess. That’s not a free market—it’s a rigged system. And an NDP government will end it.”

Singh’s Plan to Protect Canadian Workers and Companies:

Protect Workers First in Bankruptcies

An NDP government will overhaul Canada’s bankruptcy and insolvency laws to ensure workers are at the front of the line—not the back. We will:

• Expand CCAA “super-priority” protections for workers to include Post employment benefits, e.g. unpaid wages, severance, protection of group sickness or accident insurance plan, a group term life insurance policy or a private health services plan. This ensures workers are paid before banks;
• Raise the cap on the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP) to cover the wages people are owed. WEPP is capped at $8,844. Depending on their Collective Agreement unionized workers are owed between 20 and 30 weeks of severance;
• Strengthen and enforce directors’ liability for unpaid compensation
• Create a mechanism for workers to be made whole through trust-held funds or federal guarantees

Fix the Investment Canada Act to Stop Bad-Faith Takeovers

The NDP will stop predatory foreign takeovers by:

• Applying “net benefit” to economic and employment criteria, in particular, good, unionized jobs so that foreign companies cannot buy Canadian assets with the intention of dismantling them and firing workers;
• Increasing transparency so that the public knows what promises the company may have made as part of their takeover bid, and can hold them accountable for those commitments;
• Including unions in the review so that workers have a voice in their future.

Make EI Stronger and More Accessible

• As previously announced, an NDP government will make Employment Insurance more generous, easier to access, and faster to deliver—so workers aren’t left waiting in crisis.

“Let’s be clear: the Liberals and Conservatives had a chance to fix this—and they chose not to,” said Singh. “When New Democrats brought forward legislation to protect severance, vacation pay, and pensions during bankruptcies, the Liberals blocked it. The Conservatives didn’t lift a finger.”

“This is about whose side you’re on. Mark Carney worked for billion-dollar investors like Brookfield. Pierre Poilievre’s answer is to cut taxes for CEOs. But I work for the people getting left behind when those boardroom deals go south. The next time a company goes bankrupt in Canada, workers won’t be the ones left holding the bag—because under an NDP government, they’ll be at the front of the line.”