The 2025 federal election and events leading up to it were unlike any we have seen before. Conservatives under Pierre Poilievre had led the polls for months, even though working people understood fundamentally that their leader was cut from the same cloth as Trump. Then a snap election was called after the Liberals crowned Mark Carney and made him prime minster. The Canadian political and economic climates were filled with extraordinary threats from south of our border. And an affordability crisis continued unabated.
All of this led to a wave of so-called strategic voting, supercharged by the Liberals. As in February’s provincial election, this election narrative was set around tariffs, leaving virtually no room to talk about the many vital issues that matter to working people. Some voters, driven by fear, felt compelled to vote against their values, which helped lead to a collapse of the NDP’s vote share.
Now, as we consider the prospect of a weak majority or strong minority Liberal government and a vastly reduced NDP presence in Parliament, we know that the years ahead will be challenging ones.
The fiscal plans laid out by both federal Conservatives and Liberals throughout the election campaign got very little scrutiny but were not in fact all that different. Both parties and their leaders prioritized propping up the private sector, limiting public spending, and cutting transfer payments to provinces. All signs point to cuts to the public services that working class people rely on and that reduce inequality in our society.
It signals the need to gird ourselves for a fightback against planned austerity. This includes learning vital lessons about the importance of talking about politics between elections. At CUPE Ontario, we will continue to deepen our work of engaging members and communities in the politics that serve our collective interests.
In particular, we must talk openly about the dangers of strategic voting, which has had such a devastating impact on these election results. And we must continue to deepen our members’ understanding that neither Conservatives nor Liberals, no matter what they say, are on the side of working people.
As we go forward, we always stand on the foundation built by those who came before us. The growing tide of “elbows up” is about protecting everything that makes our country distinct – our social programs, public services and labour rights – all things that working people fought for and won.
Now, it is our turn to defend them.
