Letter from the President
October 6 , 2014
Brothers and Sisters,
There’s no doubt about it: the Ontario labour movement has not been so influential in a generation – thanks to the OFL’s Workers’ Rights campaign which stopped Tim Hudak’s rise to power.
A year ago the labour movement was in the fight of its life. Hudak’s Conservatives were on top of the polls and were secretly working with the U.S. Tea Party to impose anti-union, “right-to-work” policies on Ontario.
But the OFL brought our unions together in an unprecedented campaign. We engaged our local union leadership through sixteen town hall meetings and created 10,000 activists ready to help drive down the Conservative vote among union members. It worked, lowering the number of union members who vote Conservative from an estimated 30% to 18%.
Collectively, our affiliates all agreed to support incumbent NDP MPPs, and to work together to identify priority ridings to defeat Conservatives. Our OFL teams canvassed in ten ridings for the NDP, helping to send seven NDP MPPs to Queen’s Park.
As a result of our success, a lot of people have taken note – even the Harper Conservatives are sending fundraising letters to their supporters warning about the power of the union movement.
Many of the strategies we used can work federally in Ontario, and in other provinces, but the election strategy will require a new calculation.
The rules of the game are different federally from those in Ontario. For instance, spending rules are much more stringent when it comes to advertising and contributions to campaigns.
As well, Harper’s incumbent MPs enjoy a tremendous head start over their challengers. Our Workers’ Rights campaign prevented a party from becoming government, which is much less difficult than defeating a party that is already holding government.
Another wild card is the thirty new federal ridings that have been created for the next election. Half of them are in Ontario.
On the other hand, the federal NDP is in a very strong position. Jack Layton’s 2011 campaign propelled it to Official Opposition status. The NDP now holds 97 of the current 308 seats, compared with the Conservatives’ 161 seats, and the Liberals’ 37.
I met with NDP leader Tom Mulcair in his office on Parliament Hill last week to discuss the party’s policies and election plans.
I was very encouraged by our discussion and his recent public statements, particularly his promise to bring in a national child care program, to return the OAS eligibility age to 65, to protect home postal delivery services, to re-introduce the federal minimum wage at $15 per hour, and to ensure that corporations stop their “freeloading” and pay their fair share.
The NDP is on the right track.
Ontario will be a key battleground in the federal election. We will be working very closely with the Canadian Labour Congress, which is taking the lead on developing the labour movement’s strategy for the federal election, expected in October 2015 (or even sooner).
I have received many comments from our affiliates, who are rightly very proud of how our labour movement came together to defeat Hudak’s anti-union agenda in the election. The OFL will be ready to work collectively with its affiliates, once again, to defeat Harper, too.
In solidarity,
Sid Ryan, President Ontario Federation of Labour
