OTTAWA, Ontario – Canada’s Labor Minister said Tuesday he is intervening to end worker lockouts at the country’s two largest ports.

Labor Minister Steven Mackinnon said negotiations have reached an impasse and he is directing the Canada Industrial Relations Board to order the resumption of all operations at the ports of Vancouver and Montreal and take the talks to binding arbitration.

Workers at the port of Montreal were blocked on Sunday and workers in Vancouver, on the Pacific coast, have been blocked since November 4.

“There is a limit to economic self-destruction that Canadians are willing to accept,” MacKinnon said. “In the face of economic self-destruction there is an obligation to intervene. As Minister of Labor, that responsibility falls on me.”

MacKinnon said C$1.3 billion ($930 million) worth of goods are affected every day. He said it was impacting supply chains, the economy and Canada’s reputation as a reliable trading partner.

Business groups had been calling for government intervention to revive the flow of goods.

The move to end the stoppages comes after the government intervened to end halted operations on Canada’s two major railways in August.

MacKinnon says he hopes operations can be restored within days.

The Maritime Employers Association laid off 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal on Sunday after workers voted to reject what employers called a final contract offer. The workers asked for increases of 20% in four years.

The job action came after British Columbia dockworkers were fired amid a labor dispute involving more than 700 port supervisors, resulting in a paralysis of container cargo traffic at West Coast terminals. .