Use this guide to assist you in dealing with commonly held opinions and myths during your conversations about the election.
Top messages
- The Liberals and Conservatives are two sides of the same coin – they represent politics as usual.
- Jagmeet Singh and the NDP are the only ones who have workers’ interests at heart, and the only ones with a plan to strengthen our system of care and ensure a just recovery from the pandemic.
- CUPE strongly encourages our members to vote for their local NDP candidate.
1. MYTH: The NDP will raise my taxes and destroy the economy if they’re elected.
REALITY: This is old right-wing rhetoric that simply doesn’t add up. Just look at the NDP government in BC right now. They’re investing in thousands of new affordable housing units, opening thousands of $10-a-day child care spaces, and lots more – all without raising taxes on families, and all while leading Canada in economic growth. It’s just a question of priorities.
2. MYTH: Public services cost too much, and the government needs to make cuts somewhere to address the growth of the deficit during the pandemic so we can balance the budget.
REALITY: Public services were the bedrock of our response to the COVID-19 crisis and will be the bedrock of our social and economic recovery too. Public services are the great equalizer in our society. For example, universal health care is fundamental to our identity as a country. Instead of undermining them, we should be strengthening our public services. If the government wants to balance the budget, they should start by making the wealthy pay their fair share.
3. MYTH: The Liberals have been good for working Canadians, and they have managed the pandemic well. They deserve another term and/or a majority government to lead us out of the pandemic.
REALITY: Whether it was extending CERB from 16 weeks to 28 weeks or expanding the wage subsidy from 10 per cent to 75 per cent, or instating federal paid sick leave, it was really the NDP forcing the Liberals to do the right thing to support workers and their families throughout the pandemic. Justin Trudeau also proved that he doesn’t care about Canadian workers when he legislated our members at the Port of Montreal back to work in April of this year.
4. MYTH: The Liberals are good for the climate.
REALITY: The Liberals have not taken the steps needed to scale back Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, and they have spent billions of dollars upholding Stephen Harper’s subsidies to prop up the fossil fuel industry.
5. MYTH: The Liberals and Conservatives are the only ones who understand the economy.
REALITY: Under Liberal and Conservative governments, life has gotten easier for the wealthy and well-connected, and harder and more unaffordable for the rest of us. Average hourly wages for Canadians haven’t budged in 40 years, while the wealthiest in our society keep getting richer. Unlike the Liberals and Conservatives, the NDP understands that the economy is only “working” if it’s working for everyday people.
6. MYTH: Voting NDP is a wasted ballot. I have to vote “strategically” to stop Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives from winning.
REALITY: It’s better to vote for ideas you believe in than to hold your nose and vote for the lesser of two evils. Our country faces serious issues and problems that require new kinds of leadership – we can’t afford to keep going between the red and blue status quo. The NDP is running to strengthen workers’ rights, expand health care to cover Canadians head-to-toe, and take real action on the climate crisis and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. That’s a platform CUPE members can and should proudly stand behind. The “strategic” vote is to support the party that supports us – and that’s the NDP.
7. MYTH: Unions shouldn’t be getting involved in politics.
REALITY: Our job as a union is to make life better for our members. Beyond the bargaining table, elections are often the most important opportunity for us to fight for good ideas that will help make life better for CUPE members and working Canadians.
Produced by CUPE for CUPE members