The Canadian Press NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Oct. 15, 2018.

OTTAWA — "What we would expect is the prime minister to do everything in his power to ensure that there's a free and fair negotiation. But instead what he's doing is bringing in the worst, most draconian legislation today, completely undemocratic, and what he's doing is trampling on the rights of working people." NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. Nov. 23, 2018. —— After five weeks of rotating strikes and a growing backlog of undelivered mail, Justin Trudeau's Liberal government last week introduced back-to-work legislation for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Bill C-89 was rushed through the House of Commons and the Senate and went into effect on Tuesday. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called it "the worst, most draconian legislation." Singh didn't specify whether he meant C-89 is the worst back-to-work legislation of all time, the worst ever applied to postal workers, or the worst seen recently.

Most likely, he was comparing C-89 to the Harper government's Bill C-6, which has been held by labour leaders to be one of the most flagrant violations of labour rights in Canada in recent memory. That law, back-to-work legislation for Canada Post in 2011, was eventually ruled unconstitutional by the Ontario Superior Court in 2016. By stripping workers of their right to strike the way it did, the court ruled that the bill infringed on their constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Labour leaders now warn that the Liberals' bill will suffer the same fate as the Tories'. But even assuming Singh is only comparing the Liberals' bill to the Conservative one, his assertion stretches the truth. Spoiler alert: The Canadian Press Baloney Meter is a dispassionate examination of political statements culminating in a ranking of accuracy on a scale of "no baloney" to "full of baloney." (Complete methodology below.) This one earns a ranking of "a lot of baloney." Here's why. The Facts The Harper government's back-to-work legislation for Canada Post was very different from the Trudeau government's. The Conservative bill in 2011 imposed wage increases on postal workers that were actually below what Canada Post had already offered. It provided for an arbitrator to settle outstanding issues with "final-offer selection" — a winner-take-all process in which the union and Canada Post each present an offer and the arbitrator must pick one, with no ability to strike a compromise. The government's choices of arbitrators were twice quashed by the Federal Court: the first over inexperience and the second, a Conservative party adherent who had previously represented Canada Post in a legal dispute with CUPW, for a reasonable apprehension of bias. Ultimately, the two sides negotiated a new collective agreement without an arbitrator. But the union nevertheless challenged the constitutionality of Bill C-6. In 2016, the bill was ruled an unconstitutional infringement of postal workers' charter guarantees of freedom of expression and association.

The Canadian Press Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh speaks during a press conference in Toronto on Nov. 22, 2018.