The Alberta Reference provided the Supreme Court of Canada with an opportunity to interpret the scope of protection afforded to collective bargaining and strikes under the Charter.

The laws restricted the right to strike: any impasse in collective bargaining had to be referred to compulsory arbitration.

[1] The appellants, various public sector labour unions, were granted leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

As such, a trade union does not have a Charter right to strike incident to collective bargaining.

In 2001, the Supreme Court decided Dunmore v Ontario (Attorney General), which rejected a strictly individualized approach to section 2(d) reflected in the majority reasons of the Alberta Reference.