MONTREAL - Conservative groups are hoping to turn the end of a long-running lockout in Quebec into a broader victory against the influence of unions in Canadian politics.

After more than two years on the picket line, workers at Le Journal de Montreal grudgingly accepted a series of tough demands from the tabloid's owner, Quebecor Inc.

With only 62 of 225 union members returning to their jobs -- the others will divide a $20-million severance package -- the deal was seen as an uncontested victory for Quebec's pro-business forces.

"The resolution of the conflict testifies to a general disillusionment of union members towards their leaders,'' said Joanne Marcotte, who heads an influential network of conservative Quebecers known as Reseau Liberte-Quebec.

"I think trade unions are causing more and more disappointment amongst their members.''

Quebec has the highest unionization rate in the country at almost 40 per cent.

The influence of the province's major trade unions, both in the private and the public sector, has long been a source of contention for Quebec conservatives, who see them forming a government unto themselves.

"Nothing happens in Quebec before we ask the opinion of union leaders,'' said Marcotte.

But the lockout at Le Journal may have shaken up the status quo, if only by providing a venue for arguments about limiting the power of unions.

Quebecor continued publishing the paper throughout the lockout by setting up an in-house news agency, QMI, as well as relying on managers and other news agencies.

These changes allowed the paper to strike a more ardently anti-union tone, Marcotte said.

"It really did some good that the QMI agency took the jobs of certain journalists for a few years,'' she added.

A full-page feature in Le Journal on Monday compared Quebec to Wisconsin, which is seeking to strip some public-sector unions of their collective bargaining rights in an effort to reduce its deficit.

One column noted with that the state "took out the heavy artillery and solved the problem'' when faced with a deficit.

"That's why Wisconsin's debt is almost 10 times less than Quebec's.''

Wisconsin's state legislature is the site of an enormous ongoing sit-in to protest the planned changes. Conservative groups in Canada think it inevitable the debate will travel north.

"I think it will be a lightning rod for people,'' Peter Coleman, head of the National Citizens Coalition, said of the controversy in Wisconsin. "It may take some time for it to filter here, but I do think it will come.''

He acknowledges that the collective bargaining rights of Canadian unions are not likely to be targeted, as they are in the United States. However, his group does want to see tighter controls on how unions fund their political activities.

He predicted that the Working Families Coalition, a union-funded lobby group in Ontario, will spend between $4 million and $5 million in the province's upcoming election to try to get Dalton McGuinty re-elected.

"Union dues should be used for collective bargaining purposes and they shouldn't be used outside of that,'' Coleman said.

Quebec's unions may be in a difficult position to defend themselves from any concerted push to restrict their influence.

An ongoing controversy about corruption in the construction industry has ensnared the province's largest construction union.

Union leadership is also being called into question following the end of the lockout at Le Journal.

Several workers are expressing frustration at how their demands were handled by Claudette Carbonneau, who heads the Confederation of National Trade Unions, an umbrella group that includes the Le Journal unit.

A cartoon that appeared in Rue Frontenac, a publication set up by the locked-out employees, showed Carbonneau tending to her Facebook page.

"253 people no longer want to be your friend,'' the screen reads.

There were 253 employees on the street when the lockout began.