Posts published in December 2025

The future of the NDP should be shaped by workers — like us.

We’ll be talking about the issues that matter to working people across Canada — wages, public services, union rights, housing, and more.

Before they ask for our support this is our chance to hear from them — and make sure they hear us, too. 

Register now and help make sure the next NDP leader is ready to fight for working people.

In Ontario, we think of ourselves as spectators to the anti-democratic outrages perpetrated by US President Trump. But we have our own ringside seat to authoritarianism right here in Ontario, except we are not just spectators in our own province. We are workers and community members and we are watching Doug Ford take a hammer to our democracy.

As the union representing 310,000 working people across our province, CUPE Ontario is deeply alarmed by the increasingly authoritarian and anti-democratic behaviour of the Ford Conservatives. We are trade unionists and we run our union according to strict democratic principles, protocols and processes. We have the same expectations of our elected representatives. But recent actions by Premier Ford and his ministers confirm a growing threat to our institutions and the public trust that are essential to a functioning democracy.

Yesterday’s announcement that the legislature of Ontario will not be recalled until the end of March – a four-week delay to the planned winter recess – is just the latest in a string of dangerous and anti-democratic actions.

Throughout the whole of 2025, the legislature has sat fewer than eight weeks – only 51 days in total.  The 2026 winter recess is more than double the length of time MPPs were actually at Queen’s Park in all of the past year.

With this latest move, Conservative contempt for our democracy reaches new heights. Doug Ford’s PCs were re-elected to government less than a year ago, but they have spent most of the intervening months flouting democratic principles.

In a parliamentary democracy, elected representatives must be prepared to fulfill their duties. Opposition members must hold the government accountable and the government must answer to the opposition and the people. An extended suspension of legislative proceedings is an unacceptable attempt to limit scrutiny and avoid difficult questions about the government’s actions.

This pattern of democratic disrespect is seen plainly in the government’s use of time allocation to ram an unprecedented number of omnibus bills through the legislature – ones like Bills 33, 46, 60 and 68, which were passed without any public debate or committee consultations. Legislative processes exist for a reason; they ensure thorough examination of proposed laws and allow for diverse perspectives to be heard. They provide the opportunity for input from other concerned parties and MPPs and amendments to fix problems that are identified.

When these processes are circumvented by means of heavy-handed tactics, the very foundations of representative democracy are undermined and the voices of Ontarians are silenced.

Adding to these concerns are the serious corruption allegations surrounding Minister of Labour David Piccini and his misuse of the $2.5 billion Skills Development Fund, which is now being investigated by the OPP’s Anti-Rackets Branch; a record $112 million spent on taxpayer-funded advertising to promote a Conservative government; and the concealed plot in Bill 60 to sell off public water.

When public officials are implicated in dealings under police investigation and public funds are misused, it does lasting damage to Ontarians’ confidence in our institutions and in the people who lead them. The integrity of our democratic processes depends on transparency, accountability, and ethical conduct from those in positions of power.

The Ford Conservatives have shown none of these. Their actions collectively undermine the confidence of all Ontarians in democratic structures and institutions. Working people deserve a government that respects democratic principles, engages in meaningful consultation and operates with transparency and accountability.

The current government’s approach does the opposite – it concentrates power, limits public input, and consistently puts partisan interests above the public good. We see the tactics of the Ford Conservatives mimicking the assault on democracy we see taking place south of the border. We must be prepared to defend our democratic principles at home.

We call on the Ford Conservatives to restore democratic norms; end the use of procedural tactics to avoid scrutiny; stop tabling massive omnibus legislation that dramatically transforms huge swaths of the way things work in our province; and ensure that public officials are held to the highest ethical standards.

Ontarians’ faith in democracy is at stake.

Long-term care workers from Maple Hill Manor, represented by CUPE 2765, voted 100% in favour of a strike mandate.

“I chose to work in long-term care because I think it’s an important job,” said CUPE 2765 President Amanda McNeil-Odo. “It’s demanding, tiring, and stressful, but I love it anyway. But, at the end of the day, I have my own family to support, my own bills and obligations, and loving this job doesn’t pay for those. When we all voted yes during the strike vote, it was a message. We won’t settle for less than we deserve just because we love our jobs. Not anymore.” 

Several essential classifications in long-term care, such as dietary aides and seamstresses, make less than $20 an hour, putting them well behind the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ living wage estimates for Nova Scotia. But they are not alone, classifications such as cooks and maintenance also make several dollars less than their counterparts in other Atlantic provinces. 

“Workers across the province, across the country, are reaching their breaking points. The cost of everything has gone up dramatically in recent years, making the cost-of-living skyrocket, and wages just haven’t kept up. This isn’t a long-term care specific issue. This government needs to recognize that a healthy province is created by people being able to afford to live there,” said Tammy Martin, CUPE Long-Term Care Coordinator, “and we hope our fellow workers, regardless of sector, will support our fight for just that.” 

Approximately 40 members of the Syndicat des cols bleus regroupés de Montréal (CUPE 301) who work for the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) will no longer work overtime hours. This limited strike will begin on December 23, 2025, at 0:01 a.m., and end on January 4, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Essential services will not be maintained.

“Our members have formally rejected the employers’ offers twice now,” explained Jean-Pierre Lauzon, president of CUPE 301. “The problem is salaries. The offer of a 15% increase over five years would not keep up with the cost of living, which has skyrocketed since the pandemic.” 

The collective agreement expired on October 31, 2024. Since then, parties have held 10 bargaining sessions.

Lauzon concluded that “given the housing crisis, the work of SHDM’s outside workers is even more essential. They maintain major off-market housing stock. We’re simply asking for a little respect from the employer, and for solutions that won’t impoverish our members.”