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TORONTO, Ont. Calling the McGuinty Liberals and the Tory Conservatives two sides of the same coin,’ CUPE Ontario is launching its own election campaign today with a touring bus that calls on voters to put people first and vote NDP on October 10. The bus, which features caricatures of Dalton McGuinty and John Tory on its sides, will tour Toronto and Hamilton today, then visit towns and cities across the province in the month leading up to the provincial election on October 10.
The McGuinty government, along with the previous Conservative government, has failed the people of Ontario. Our schools are in a financial crisis, tuition fees have soared and our cities are struggling under the burden of downloaded provincial services, says Fred Hahn, Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Ontario. Our message is that the people of Ontario deserve better governmentgovernment that invests our tax dollars into public services, not private profits. And government that delivers strong public servicesnot privatized services that lead to job losses and higher costs.
Hahn says that CUPE Ontario is pushing for a provincial government that will work to ensure schools, universities, social services, health care and municipal services are adequately funded in order to properly meet the needs of Ontarians. As well, the government needs to address Ontario’s growing poverty, stop loss of jobs, reverse increasing inequity, defend public services and aggressively act on climate change.
CUPE Ontario is proud that ten CUPE members are running for election as NDP candidates. They include:
Sid Ryan (Oshawa), President of CUPE Ontario
Henry Bosch (St. Catherines) CUPE 1019, Niagara Paramedics
Ric Dagenais (Ottawa-Vanier), CUPE National and former member of CUPE 503
Henri Giroux (North Bay) CUPE 146, Cassellhome Home for the Aged
John Grima (Essex) CUPE 82, City of Windsor
Shalia Kibria (Mississauga-Erindale) CUPE 1281, Ryerson Student Union
Pauline Kulhmann (Leeds-Grenville) CUPE 5666, Brockville General Hospital
Nigel Moses (Whitby-Oshawa) CUPE 3902, University of Toronto
Antoni Shelton (York West), CUPE Ontario, Assistant to the President
Catherine Robinson, CUPE 2936, Ajax-Pickering Association of Community Living (ACL), likely to be acclaimed as the NDP candidate in Durham.
We compared the track records of all the parties and only the NDP champions public serviceseverything from publicly funded and delivered health care to public hydro generation and renewable power, says Hahn. It is the only party that has pledged to help financially strapped cities by paying for the services that were downloaded by the province. And they have made a commitment to address issues important to working families including growing inequality, growing poverty and the need for action on climate change.
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For further information, contact:
Valerie Dugale CUPE Communications 647-225-3685
Fred Hahn CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer 416-540-3979
