CUPE congratulates NDP for strong finish, number of women elected
OTTAWA – New Democrats will keep Conservatives in check and that’s good news for Canadians, said Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“An upsurge in support for the NDP means a louder, more powerful voice speaking to the issues that working people care about in the House of Commons,” Moist said. “The NDP will keep the pressure on Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to make sure that peoples’ real priorities are met: protecting public health care, building a national child care program, funding community infrastructure and more.”
Moist noted that the NDP ran a strong, effective campaign. In response, people voted for positive change rather than out of fear. Moist congratulated the party for running the most women candidates, and celebrated the fact that a third of NDP MPs elected are women. He also congratulated CUPE members who ran as NDP candidates.
CUPE will be watching Harper closely to make sure his hard-right agenda does not hurt Canadians, Moist said.
“Harper kept the right-wing of his party muzzled to get elected, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on them to make sure they stay that way,” Moist said. “His lukewarm minority mandate does not give him permission to privatize health care, unravel child care agreements with the provinces or cancel funding for Aboriginal communities, nor to diminish civil and labour rights.”
Harper might try to sneak measures through by making regulatory changes that don’t require passage by Parliament, Moist warned.
“We have to make sure the Conservatives aren’t bolder in the back rooms than they are in Parliament,” he said. “They don’t need legislation to let health care privatization flourish, or give the rich more tax cuts and greater property rights that diminish social and environmental protection, so we need to be vigilant.”
CUPE is Canada’s largest union, with 540,000 members providing public services in communities across the country, including health care, child care, municipal services and more.
Contact:
Paul Moist
national president
(613) 558-2873
Claude Genereux
national secretary-treasurer (porte-parole francophone)
(514) 884-5074
David Robbins
CUPE communications
(613) 878-1431