Business groups ask Ottawa to prevent Air Canada strike [Video]

Groups representing more than 200,000 businesses across Canada on Thursday urged the government to intervene to block a looming pilot’s strike at flagship carrier Air Canada that they say risks devastating the economy.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Canada and nearly 100 other associations in a letter to the federal labor minister asked him to order arbitration to settle the labor dispute.

This comes after Air Canada said it was preparing to suspend most of its flights starting next Sunday, as it faces an impasse in talks with its pilots over wage demands.

A total shutdown of its operations has been scheduled for September 18 if talks break down.

“No one wins in a strike, but a labor disruption would cause a lot of harm to a lot of people,” Goldy Hyder of the Business Council of Canada told a news conference in Ottawa.

“Canadians cannot …