Today, at CUPE’s Building Strong Locals Conference in Montreal, over 500 CUPE members from across Canada adopted the Montreal Declaration. The declaration acknowledges the formidable contribution that the labour movement has made to building what makes us proudest to be Canadian: our public health care, public education, and so many more cherished public services. The declaration also sets out CUPE’s demands for a worker-focused response to the existential crisis posed by Donald Trump’s assault on Canadian workers. Read the full declaration below:
The Montréal Declaration
Our way of life, our sovereignty, and everything that makes us proud to be Canadian are on the line.
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.
We will defend our proud tradition of strong, well-funded, high-quality public services for people when they need it, and we will stand up for the right of all workers to good wages, a dignified retirement, and strong union representation. We will defend our sovereignty and our communities.
We will build strong coalitions across the labour movement and with social movements advancing justice for our communities, both in Canada and around the world where human rights are under attack. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with Indigenous communities in defence of their treaty rights.
CUPE members and the labour movement have always risen to the occasion during challenging times. This is our moment. Let no one underestimate our determination to defend what must be defended.