Unions encouraged to see pharmacare on Parliament’s agenda today

Unions encouraged to see pharmacare on Parliament’s agenda today

Canada’s unions will be watching the House of Commons today as MPs discuss an NDP motion calling for a universal pharmacare plan for Canada. “We are pleased that the NDP under its new leader Jagmeet Singh is continuing to make pharmacare such a priority, and we hope all political parties respond by making this much needed program a reality as…

October 4: Sisters in Spirit Vigils

Sisters in Spirit Vigils on October 4th are an annual way to honour the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous women and in Canada. The violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls is a national tragedy that unions and the labour movement have been pressuring governments to address. Each year, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and Families of…

CLC congratulates Jagmeet Singh on a decisive leadership win

The Canadian Labour Congress is congratulating Jagmeet Singh on a decisive win in today’s New Democatic Party leadership vote. “On the first ballot, Jagmeet has won the support of over half of the NDP’s membership, both from the party’s base, and those who’ve signed up because they’re excited to see a bold new vision,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “We’re…

Canadians can’t afford to wait for pharmacare: Canada’s unions

Canada’s unions say today’s report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer is more evidence that we can’t afford to wait for a universal prescription drug plan. The report uses the Quebec government’s public prescription drug plan formulary – one critiqued by experts as inefficient and expensive – to nonetheless estimate that a single-payer universal prescription drug plan would save Canada $4.2…

Canada’s unions welcome plans to start closing tax loopholes

Canada’s unions are welcoming the federal government’s plan to close tax loopholes for very high-income earners, saying it’s an important first step toward bringing more fairness to Canada’s tax system. “Today’s tax rules make it possible for someone earning $300,000 to save more on their taxes than the average Canadian worker makes in a year, and that is fundamentally unfair,”…

Canada’s unions mark Labour Day with a call for universal pharmacare

Canada’s unions are marking this year’s Labour Day with the launch of a campaign calling for universal prescription drug coverage for all Canadians. “Today, 3.5 million Canadians can’t afford to fill their prescriptions,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff. “Nobody should have to choose between paying for groceries or the medication they need,” he added. Currently one in five people pay…

Yussuff: Trump has failed the test of moral leadership. We must not.

Just over a week has passed since the world watched with horror and disgust as the reality of fascist terrorism ended the life of civil rights activist Heather Heyer and forever scarred the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. And in that week, a movement dismissed as harmless by too many for too long found a fervent ally in the American president.…

Community leaders must unite to stamp out hate, racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) condemns the recent violence in Charlottesville, the result of provocative demonstrations driven by racism, hate and exclusion. White supremacists, including the former director of the Ku Klux Klan, marched with torches, Nazi symbols and hateful, racist, anti-Semitic chants, attacking those who stood courageously in defence of human decency, murdering civil rights activist Heather Heyer and…

Workers fighting for a fair contract at Winnipeg airport

Workers at the Winnipeg airport went on strike at 3:00 am on Monday, July 24 after several days of mediated negotiations failed to resolve core issues like contracting in and contracting out of bargaining unit work. “We urge the Winnipeg Airport Authority to do the right thing and return to the bargaining table immediately,” said CLC president Hassan Yussuff. The…

CLC celebrates First Nations contributions on National Aboriginal Day

On National Aboriginal Day, and as we prepare for the upcoming 150th anniversary of Confederation, Canada’s unions are recognizing the history of Canada’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit people that pre-dates Canada by more than 10,000 years. “What we call Canada today was inhabited by hundreds of diverse societies long before the arrival of Europeans, but our colonial history has…