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This paper argues that we are witnessing the end of the era of "free collective bargaining" which began with the federal government's war-time order-in-council PC 1003. The era being closed is one in which the state and capital relied, more than before World War II, on obtaining the consent of workers generally, and unions in particular, to participate as subordinate actors in Canada's capitalist democracy. The era ahead marks a return, albeit in quite different conditions, to the state and capital relying more openly on coercion to secure that subordination. This is not to suggest that coercion was absent from the previous era or that it is about to become the only, or even always the dominant, factor in labour relations. Rather it is argued that there has been a change in the form in which coercion and consent are relating to one another, a change significant enough to demand a new era. In conclusion, we speculate on the character of labour relations in the foreseeable future.