Telecom union calls on government to protect Canadian jobs by regulating AI use in industry

The federal government needs to regulate artificial intelligence (AI) use in the telecommunications sector to protect against job loss and privacy invasions, says an industry workers union. Representatives from the Canadian Telecommunications Workers Alliance (CTWA) told the House industry and technology committee on April 30 that the telecom industry has lost about 20,000 jobs between automation and offshoring in the last 10 to 15 years — and they said AI integration is only accelerating that trend. The CTWA is a coalition of three major unions - Unifor, United Steelworkers, and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) – formed earlier this year, as first reported by The Wire Report. Nathalie Blais, research representative at CUPE, criticized the government for relying too heavily on corporate interests during AI consultations, and not hearing from enough union voices, privacy experts, or researchers. She said overlooking those viewpoints risks promoting further decline in telecommunication jobs. “How can we use this tool to bring us somewhere better?,” she said in French. “Instead of towards job loss.” Roch Leblanc, telecommunications director at Unifor, told MPs that AI is a tool to increase productivity, not replace workers. Because of the sensitivity of the data telecoms transmit, and the unreliability of AI agents, Leblanc said, Canada must adopt an AI framework that regulates its use, mandates transparency, and ensures AI is never used at the expense of workers or customers. “Canadians should know when AI is being used, and have the right to talk to a human based in Canada regulated by Canadian standards,” he said. Leblanc pointed out the CTWA is aware of at least one of the Big 3 telcos using AI to mask the accents of its offshore agents, altering how customers perceive who they are talking to. “The use of AI technology to deceive Canadians in any way should be prohibited,” he said. Blais also argued that most generative AI systems are American and about 25 per cent of our data flows through the U.S., meaning Canadian data is subject to foreign laws, and individual Canadians are left unprotected. Leblanc echoes Blais’s point, saying the government must not sacrifice its sovereignty by allowing foreign influence over any sector of the telecommunications industry. When asked by Tory MP Michael Guglielmin (Vaughan—Woodbridge, Ont.) if she thinks the government is too focused on deployment speed, and not focused enough on protecting telco workers from the consequences of that deployment, Blais answered affirmatively, arguing the government cannot yet predict the trajectory of AI and how it will adapt. “What’s your plan B?,” she said in French. As the model is disappearing in favour of the new era of automation, Leblanc said the transformation has no strategic direction. Rather than unloading workers, he said the logical move would be to train them as AI specialists. When you lose the workers, you lose the huge amount of knowledge tied to the existing model, he said. Corey Mandryk, lead organizer at United Steelworkers National Local 1944, said while the government’s strategy must be well thought out, workers also remain unprotected the longer the feds delay action. AI Minister Evan Solomon previously said he planned to table the strategy in the first quarter of 2026, but has yet to unveil it. Mandryk said telco workers are extremely worried about being replaced by AI agents, and the government must work quickly to provide them with reassurance. “You can’t have a conversation about AI without it eventually leading to ‘Yeah, but it’s going to take away my job,’” he said. Mandryk said the steelworkers union is not against AI use, and has always stood behind innovation that provides tools to enhance workflow. What is missing from the national conversation, he said, is addressing how AI can be that improvement tool, rather than a replacement. While he agreed government and industry must work together in the AI strategy, Mandryk said there is no industry without workers. “They are the lifeblood of that industry. If Canadian workers see AI as opportunity . . . I think that there will be some hope versus that anxiety over what’s to come,” he said. “That’s why something from the government really needs to happen quickly.” mcollins@thewirereport.ca

Telecom union calls on government to protect Canadian jobs by regulating AI use in industry

Regulatory |
By Maria Collins
|May 1, 2026

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Telecom union calls on government to protect Canadian jobs by regulating AI use in industry

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