CUPE National President Mark Hancock wrote to Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney today, congratulating him on winning the Liberal leadership race. Hancock affirmed CUPE’s Montreal Declaration and CUPE’s commitment to putting workers and communities first in the fight against Donald Trump’s assault on Canada. “Privatization is a race to the bottom, Prime Minister,” wrote Hancock. “Selling our public infrastructure like airports, opening public services up for private-sector profit, and sweeping deregulation for corporate exploitation is exactly what President Trump wants us to do.”
March 14, 2025
The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
pm@pm.gc.ca
Dear Prime Minister:
I write to you on behalf of over 750,000 members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) to congratulate you on your victory as the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and as the Prime Minister.
CUPE is Canada’s largest union and represents workers in health care, emergency services, education, early learning and child care, municipalities, social services, libraries, utilities, transportation, airlines, and more.
Last week, CUPE held a national conference in Montreal with over 500 members representing tens of thousands of workers from coast-to-coast-to-coast.
The existential threat to our country posed by US President Donald Trump weighed heavily on everyone’s minds, as I am sure it does for you. Our members – who deliver essential services to communities across the country – affirmed the Montreal Declaration.
Our members were clear:
“The labour movement fought to build the social programs that make us proud to be Canadian – public health care, public education, public pensions, employment insurance, national pharmacare, child care, and so much more. Donald Trump and his supporters in Canada are putting all of those things under existential threat.
This will be one of the defining, critical moments in our lifetime. But our response must be about more than just “buying Canadian.” This is our opportunity to reshape the Canadian economy into something that truly works for the people. We must advance public solutions in key sectors like agriculture, transportation, infrastructure, and natural resources, and diversify markets for Canadian products beyond the United States.
We must respond to the threats against the things that make us proud to be Canadian by making them stronger – not by allowing them to be torn apart. We must reject the kneejerk calls for tax cuts, deregulation and privatization from corporate boardrooms and the right-wing.
Canada’s response must put workers and our communities first.”
Privatization is a race to the bottom, Prime Minister. Selling our public infrastructure like airports, opening public services up for private-sector profit, and sweeping deregulation for corporate exploitation is exactly what President Trump wants us to do.
History shows that our communities are stronger when our infrastructure and services are publicly owned and delivered.
I look forward to working with you to keep our public services strong across the country.
Yours sincerely,
MARK HANCOCK
National President