Mark Hancock | CUPE’s National President
As union members, unity is our strength. And we need that strength today more than ever as we fight for a better life for our members, and as we fight the division and the hate the far-right is trying to sow.
From one corner of the country to the next, we are up against right-wing governments who want to dismantle our public services and sell off our public health.
We are up against premiers like Scott Moe and Blaine Higgs who are demonizing trans kids to distract from their own awful records in office. We are up against Conservative leaders who are blaming newcomers and temporary foreign workers for low wages and the housing crisis, instead of the speculative investors who are being allowed to gamble with housing while our members struggle to make ends meet.
The right-wing in Canada knows they lose the debate when the debate is about issues and substance. So instead, they’re doing absolutely everything they can to distract from the real challenges that we’re facing, and to create fake crises to stall real action. They’ll do anything they can to stop real progress for workers and our communities.
That is precisely why we need a strong, and militant, and unified labour movement in this country and around the world.
We need to make sure our members – all 750,000 of us across Canada – know exactly what is at stake in the next federal election. We are going to be Pierre Poilievre’s worst nightmare.
Just because he is playing footsy with workers doesn’t mean he understands or cares about what workers are going through. He would be the most anti-worker prime minister of all time if he’s ever elected.
He voted against anti-scab legislation not once, not twice, but 8 times between 2004 and 2016. He will raise the retirement age to 67 just like Stephen Harper. And he’ll take a wrecking ball to our pensions to put all the risk on workers while letting employers off the hook. He’ll undo all the progress we’ve made on fighting climate change. He will cancel pharmacare. He will cancel dental care.
He has dedicated his career to tearing down our social safety net and attacking workers’ rights. The fact is, Pierre and the Conservatives don’t fight for working people – and they never will. They don’t fight corporate greed – they enable it.
And their job is so much easier when folks are scapegoating newcomers and vulnerable minorities.
Working people across this country are angry. We all know how hard it is to pay rent and buy groceries right now. We are all gripping the steering wheel a little too tight thinking about how we’re going to provide for our kids, or how we are going to look after our parents.
People are right to be angry. It’s not supposed to be this way.
It is our job as union members to capture the fire of peoples’ anger and bring people together. And we have seen, time and time again, what we can do when we stand together, united and strong, and show just how powerful worker solidarity truly is!
So my friends, let us be inspired by each other. Let us take courage from one another, from our struggles, and our victories, and meet our challenges head on.
