On July 5, 2005, the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour convened a Tripartite Forum on labour/management relations in the province. The Canadian Labour and Business Centre was asked to help to organize and facilitate the Forum.
Convening the Forum responded to a commitment made by the Nova Scotia Government in its 2003 Blue Book. However, the opportunity to bring management, labour and government representatives together to discuss labour/management relationships in the province provided an opportunity to proactively address labour/management issues in a way that had not occurred for many years. The Forum thus constituted a significant event in the development of labour/management relationships within the province.
The event consisted of plenary panels of representatives of employers, labour and government, complemented by facilitated round table discussions which allowed participants to exchange views on key questions. Participants were assigned to round tables in advance, to ensure that every table had a representative group of participants, and that the ensuing discussions reflected a variety of views.
