CANADA’S government forced Air Canada and its striking flight attendants back to work and into arbitration on Saturday after a walkout halted operations during the peak summer travel season.

Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said now is not the time to take risks with the economy, noting the unprecedented tariffs the United States has imposed on Canada. 

The intervention means the 10,000 flight attendants will return to work soon. But a full resumption of services could take days.

The government’s action came less than 12 hours after workers walked off the job.

“The talks broke down. It is clear that the parties are not any closer to resolving some of the key issues that remain and they will need help with the arbitrator,” Ms Hajdu said.

Meanwhile, president of the Air Canada Component of the CUPE union, Wesley Lesosky, accused the government of violating the flight attendants’ constitutional right to strike.

He said: “The Liberal government is rewarding Air Canada’s refusal to negotiate fairly by giving them exactly what they wanted.”

Air Canada did not immediately have additional comments when reached Saturday afternoon. 

According to numbers from aviation analytics provider Cirium, Air Canada had cancelled a total of 671 flights by Saturday afternoon, following 199 on Friday. A further 96 flights scheduled for Sunday were also suspended.