CUPE kicked off the Council of the Federation meeting in Québec City this week with an active start, engaging in meaningful meetings with both the Federation of Labour presidents and the Canadian Federation of Nurses.
Both organizations are holding meetings in concert with Council of the Federation, a meeting of Canada’s 13 provincial and territorial leaders.
At a meeting today among the Federation of Labour presidents, CUPE National President Paul Moist encouraged the labour leaders to continue engaging their premiers in discussions about the roles and responsibilities of bilateral agreements.
Moist told the Federation presidents that he was encouraged by their decision to highlight issues related to internal trade.
“You have a role to play in convincing your respective premiers of the unnecessary nature of enforcement mechanisms that stand to negatively affect communities from one end of the country to another should they become law,” Moist told the labour leaders.
Moist and the Federation presidents also met with Manitoba Premier Gary Doer, sharing with the Premier some ideas on a constructive role for Canadian labour in the development of federal policies that affect workers in Canada.
Yesterday, Moist attended the Canadian Federation of Nurses conference. The conference - devoted to examining the state of health care in Canada - heard from a panel of experts including lawyer Steven Shrybman and economist Marie Claude Prémont.
Shrybman used the Brampton Civic and Royal Ottawa hospitals as examples to highlight the serious failures of P3s in relation to health care and other public sector infrastructure projects.
Marie Claude Prémont discussed the reality of the Chaoulli decision on the ongoing development of private clinics and the decision’s overall impact on health care services in
Québec.