Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon says he is “calling a timeout” in the Canada Post strike, and asking the Canada Industrial Relations Board to send about 55,000 employees back to work.

Mackinnon says the Crown corporation and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are at an impasse after a nearly month-long work stoppage, and negotiations are actually going in the wrong direction.

He says if the board agrees the two sides are at an impasse, it has been asked to order union members to return to work until May.

The federal government is establishing an inquiry to determine why the two sides cannot come to an agreement.

Mackinnon says people across the country — especially small businesses, people in remote communities and Indigenous people — have suffered greatly as a result of the strike. 

He says he’s asked the board to make a decision quickly and hopes the mail will be delivered again starting next week.