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OPSEU/NUPGE members rallied in cities across Ontario when Premier Ford returned to the legislature after a 5-month break.
Toronto (31 Oct. 2019) ― Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) members helped mark the Ford government’s return to work Monday after a 5-month break by leading and participating in Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) rallies in communities across the province.
Reason for govt.’s extended summer vacation rumoured to be federal election
The Ontario legislature adjourned in early June 2019. Traditionally, MPPs would have returned to the legislature sometime in September. Indeed, the 2020 and 2021 Parliamentary Calendars show the Ontario legislature reconvening in the third week of September. The difference this year was the 2019 federal election.
Premier Doug Ford was allegedly asked to lay low by the federal Conservative party for the duration of the federal election campaign. According to Global News, Ford’s approval ratings hover somewhere in the 20s or 30s, and CBC reported that a survey found that 42% of Ontarians decided not to vote Conservative in the federal election because of Ford. Additional evidence to support this idea is the fact that federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer campaigned with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, while Ford claimed to be “busy” whenever Scheer campaigned in Ontario (CBC).
OPSEU/NUPGE members in the forefront of rallies
OPSEU/NUPGE members took part in a unique march in Toronto that circled Queen’s Park for hours, earning lots of public and media attention. The action was covered by blogTO, the Daily Hive, CityNews, Global News, and Canada’s National Observer. In Thunder Bay, OPSEU/NUPGE members helped organize a similar rolling rally, with dozens of vehicles circling city hall over the lunch hour. The “caravan” was covered by Country 105, CBC, and tbnewswatch.com. OPSEU/NUPGE members also helped organize a rally outside of MPP Norm Miller’s constituency office in Bracebridge that was covered by the MuskokaRegion.com, and in front of MPP Jill Dunlop’s office in Orillia that was reported on by Orillia Matters.
Visit OPSEU’s website to view photos from the rallies.