FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2015
Canada’s Largest Provincial Labour Federation Endorses Thomas Mulcair’s NDP
OFL Issues Labour Day Call for One Million Workers to Unite Behind Every Ontario NDP Candidate
(TORONTO, ON) ─ The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) today declared its full support for the federal NDP to form the next government of Canada. In advance of Labour Day Weekend, OFL President Sid Ryan called on Ontario’s 54 labour unions and over one million unionized workers to volunteer their time for NDP candidates in every riding across Ontario.
“Now is not the time to divide the strength of the labour movement by sending out confusing messages about who should be the next Prime Minister of Canada,” said Ryan. “There is only one leader and one party that can clean up nine years of Conservative corruption and economic mismanagement and that is Thomas Mulcair and the federal NDP.”
While Harper has been in office, income inequality has deepened, wages have stagnated and new job creation is slower than any period since World War II. The damage Harper has done to Canadian families, the environment and Canada’s international reputation is incalculable but the defining issue of Harper’s last term was the introduction of the dangerous and undemocratic Bill C51.
“When Justin Trudeau was called upon to take a stand against Harper’s attack on the fundamental rights of Canadians, his principles failed him and his party cast their votes with the Harper Conservatives. Trudeau proved that he doesn’t have what it takes to lead Canada,” said Ryan, “Only Thomas Mulcair had the courage and the conviction to oppose Bill C51 and defend the rights and values of Canadians. If ever there was a party platform that clearly speaks to the interests of working people and their families and provides a balanced plan for shared prosperity, it is the one that Thomas Mulcair has presented to Canadians.”
Among the many popular commitments the NDP have promised are:
- Creating stable, full-time, middle-class jobs;
- Creating one million childcare spaces capped at $15 a day;
- Expanding the Canada Pension Plan so no one retires into poverty;
- Reversing health transfer cuts;
- Cutting emissions and tackling climate change;
- Repealing Bill C51; and
- Launching a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.
“The OFL helped to drive Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak out of politics in 2014 and we are convinced that a labour movement united behind Thomas Mulcair can deliver the same fate to Stephen Harper,” said Ryan. “The OFL is the voice of 40 percent of Canada’s unionized workforce and it is the largest labour federation in the country. There is no doubt that voters in ‘Battleground Ontario’ will make or break the Harper government, but I predict that it will be union activists who tip the scales and help Thomas Mulcair make history by forming Canada’s first NDP government.”
OFL President Sid Ryan will be joining Thomas Mulcair and NDP Candidates in the Toronto Labour Day March at 9:00 am on Monday, September 7, 2015. The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) represents 54 unions and one million workers in Ontario. For information, visit www.OFL.ca and follow the OFL on Facebook and Twitter: @OFLabour.
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For further information:
Sid Ryan, OFL President: 416-209-0066 or @SidRyan_OFL
Joel Duff, OFL Communications Director: 416-707-0349 or jduff@ofl-org.flywheelsites.com *FRENCH/ENGLISH*
