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Quebec’s labour minister is banking on the threat of back-to-work legislation to force the province’s union leaders and construction magnates back to the negotiating table.

The minister, Dominique Vien, held emergency meetings with both parties Wednesday just hours after 175,000 workers walked off construction sites across the province. The decision, by Quebec’s largest labour unions, to call a strike has effectively paralyzed Quebec’s major infrastructure projects, costing the government an estimated $45 million per day.

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After meeting with representatives from both sides, Vien told reporters she wants to see a timetable for renewed negotiations.

Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

“I feel they are able to sit down and renew the discussion,” said Vien after the emergency meeting, adding the two parties may be disappointed if they expect a special law to solve their dispute for them. Other than hopeful rhetoric, however, it didn’t appear that much tangible progress was made Wednesday.