As Air Canada cancelled flights on Thursday ahead of a possible flight attendants' strike, the union representing those workers accused the federal jobs minister of speaking "on behalf" of the company amid a contentious labour dispute.

Air Canada began canceling flights Thursday ahead of a possible strike by its flight attendants that could impact hundreds of thousands of travelers. A complete shutdown of the country's largest airline threatens to impact about 130,000 people a day.

Air Canada began cancelling flights on Thursday after receiving a strike notice from the flight attendants' union, warning all operations could be shut down by Saturday. Chief operating officer Mark Nasr told reporters Thursday that the airline had begun "a gradual suspension of Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge operations.