Conservatives push to halt Ericsson’s Canadian technician layoffs

Two Conservative ministers from the party’s shadow cabinet are calling on the Liberal government and Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly to prevent Ericsson from laying off critical Canadian technical staff.

This all circles back to Rogers, which allegedly sold its wireless service department, including 400 people with technical support expertise for Rogers’ cellular infrastructure, to Ericsson in April. At the time, Rogers and Ericsson both denied the sale despite a law firm claiming employees were given an ultimatum to join Ericsson or quit.

Then, in early September, news broke that Ericsson would lay off the workers on October 31, with former employees telling MobileSyrup that more layoffs would come in January 2026. Ericsson denied this, saying it was only laying off around 100 employees and had no plans for further layoffs. Moreover, Ericsson said in September that the change would “bring together our network management services team in Canada with our global operations,” while former employees told MobileSyrup that Ericsson was transitioning the roles to workers in India.

Now, some Conservative members of the government are asking the cabinet to halt the layoffs. “The decision to offshore critical network operations would transfer control of core wireless functions outside Canada, raising urgent concerns about national security, data protection and the loss of skilled Canadian jobs. These are not routine roles. These technicians maintain and secure the backbone of Canada’s wireless infrastructure – preventing outages, repairing faults and managing tower operations. Once these responsibilities are moved abroad, Canada will lose direct control over a vital part of its national communications infrastructure,” reads an excerpt from the party’s press release. 

The team is even trying to invoke the security objectives of the Telecommunications Act to help stop the layoffs/outsourcing.

Source: Conservative Party of Canada