Canadian Labour Congress Optimistic After Today’s Throne Speech

December 4, 2015

The Canadian Labour Congress is pleased by the tone of today’s Speech from the Throne, which indicated renewed commitment to key election promises.

“We were pleased to see mention of important issues in today’s Throne Speech, like support for Syrian refugees and creating jobs through infrastructure investments, and we’re looking forward to working with the government to make sure they fulfill the other promises they made to working Canadians during the election,” said CLC President Hassan Yussuff.

“With deteriorating economic conditions, the planned investments in infrastructure, affordable housing, and health care are more important than ever and cannot be delayed,” Yussuff added.

One of the CLC’s priorities for the coming session will be ensuring the government follows through on its commitment to expand the Canada Pension Plan.

“After a lifetime of hard work, no one should have to retire in poverty. A universal expansion of the CPP is the best and only way to help all Canadian workers save for retirement,” Yussuff said.

Other priorities Yussuff highlighted include strong support for resettling 25,000 Syrian refugees, and a concrete plan coming out of the Paris COP21 climate change summit to reduce GHG emissions, including a just transition for affected workers.

Although the government is only sitting for one week before the winter holidays, Yussuff said he also hopes to see them call a full, public debate on the Trans-Pacific Partnership as soon as possible.

Finally, with the final Truth and Reconciliation Commission report due to be released on December 15, Yussuff added: “We expect the government to move quickly to implement all of the commission’s recommendations, and to fulfill their election commitment to call a national inquiry on missing and murdered indigenous women.”

The Canadian Labour Congress represents over 3.3 million union members who work in every industry and live in every province and territory. We are the voice of Canada’s labour movement.