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If right-to-work expands into more states, the relative competitiveness of Canadian businesses — already in serious jeopardy as Trump prepares to slash American taxes and regulations — will only be harmed further. Canada’s labour relations laws are already tilted heavily in favour of unions, which helps explain why Canadian workers are more than twice as likely to be unionized as American workers (15 per cent of private sector workers are unionized in Canada versus 6.7 per cent in the U.S.).

It is easy to see how unions damage businesses and economic growth. A society prospers by increasing its productivity; unions serve the opposite purpose. They make it difficult for companies to dismiss unproductive employees while limiting the wage growth of highly productive workers with negotiated contracts that prioritize seniority over job performance. This discourages unionized workers from increasing their effort levels, expanding their skill sets, or investing in their own education to boost their productivity and income.

If Republicans expand right-to-work into more states, Canadian competitiveness will only be harmed further.

More importantly, unions tend to drive away business and investment, as empirical studies have shown. A recent study by BYU economist Brigham R. Frandsen found that companies were about 10 percentage points more likely to shut down within seven years of a vote to unionize compared to companies that rejected unionization. This result might not be entirely causal, but other research backs up the general thesis that unionization hurts firms’ profits and market values.