Alberta is bringing in legislation to give professors, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows the right to strike.
Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt says Bill 7 ensures Canada is in compliance with a decision by the Supreme Court.
That decision guarantees workers the right to strike while maintaining essential services.
Currently, collective bargaining disputes with academic staff in Alberta are settled through binding arbitration or other mutually agreed-upon methods.
Under the proposed legislation, essential service agreements must be in place as well for the schools, covering such contingencies as academic staff who are also counselling patients.
Alberta is the last jurisdiction to bring academic staff into compliance with the Supreme Court ruling.