Thank you. Good morning everyone. Hello. Thank you, B, for those incredibly kind words, and hello Canadian Labour Congress. Good morning. It is fantastic to be back in Winnipeg standing together again with workers from coast to coast to coast.
Just want to start by saying happy nurses week to all who celebrate. I know I do. Thank you. Okay, we found the nurses. We found the nurses.
Also want to say congratulations UFCW for an historic first collective agreement for more than a thousand Uber drivers in Victoria.
[applause]
The gig economy just got a little bit better for some of the workers in it.
Just six weeks ago I was right here in Winnipeg with thousands of New Democrats working together to renew our party and reignite our movement. Woven through the crowd as always at an NDP convention were hundreds of folks from labour — regional reps, shop stewards, workers fresh from organizing their workplaces and fighting for their rights. That kind of solidarity is always inspiring to see. To look out into a room and see what our party can be at its best: the party of workers and labour.
And after the results were announced, after I stopped fibrillating, and I came back on stage, I was joined by a big crowd of supporters and members, including union leaders and rank-and-file members, standing together to recommit to the NDP’s fundamental purpose — to make life better for working people, shoulder to shoulder with the labour movement, as always.
Now, of course, I don’t know if you also felt this, but it all seemed pretty poignant just a couple of weeks later when another convention was held for another federal party. I’m sure you all saw how different that one looked, when a minister of the federal government of that other party asked if anyone from labour was in the hall. And from a distant corner came one lone voice, one sad little woohoo.
It was a bit cringe-full, of course, a perfect moment to share snarkily on social media, but I don’t bring this up for laughs or for partisan potshots. I bring it up because it’s a disturbing sign of the state of politics in this country.
At the helm of this nation, we have a government that talks a lot about building — build, build, build, major projects, fast-tracking major investments, one-stop shopping for accelerated approvals. But what’s missing from all this big talk, who is missing in the messaging, is you. They keep forgetting to mention that all this work can only happen in partnership with labour. The same way workers and labour are missing from the economic updates and budgets, from the projections that inform the government about what’s happening in our economy.
I was on CBC Television on the day of the spring economic update, and I happened to mention to David Cochrane the notable lack of trade union economists at the front of that document of the spring economic update — you know, where the private sector forecasters, otherwise known as bankers, are listed. And he said, “Are you saying trade unions should be involved in the economic forecast?” And I’m like, uh, yeah, you’re damn right they should. Some of the best economists in this country are trade union economists.
This government clearly has a hard time remembering workers and unions. When Mark Carney created his first cabinet, he forgot to appoint a Minister of Labour. This government did a 30-day consultation on artificial intelligence. They called it a sprint, in the words of the tech bros with whom they are so enamoured. And they forgot to consult with trade unions.
Luckily, some of the visionary leaders in this room, on this stage, crashed the AI party last week and put the concerns of workers in front of the minister responsible. And they demanded — we demanded — that employers in this country stop and talk to workers and unions before deploying AI in the workplace.
The truth is that this government can only deliver major projects if labour is at the table. Just like they can only address the critical shortages of our shattered public services by investing in workers, in people. Not by contracting out and privatizing hospitals and airports, but by putting real dollars into the systems that millions of us rely on, into the economy of care that holds this country together.
In fact, if this government truly wants to chart a path forward for our country, it must do so hand in hand with Canadian workers.
I’m here to tell you that the NDP is fighting for this every day on the hill. Although our mighty caucus is only five strong, our MPs are hard at work. And I want to give you a little forecast of the next few weeks when we will be sprinting to the end of this session of Parliament battling to secure badly needed wins for workers.
Number one, we need to permanently delete section 107 from the Canada Labour Code. It’s got to go. They’re opening it up and we are taking it out.
[applause]
Leah Gazan, as you know, the great MP from right here in Winnipeg, the centre of the universe as she will never stop saying, has a bill that plants that flag firmly in the ground. No worker should be forced back to work when they’re standing up for their rights on a picket line. That’s got to end in this country.
Our House Leader Heather McPherson, who you’ve seen on the floor this week, will be advancing a bill to put an end to company unions like the CLAC and put power back in the hands of workers and our real unions.
Our parliamentary leader and labour critic — you know him well — Don Davies, who worked tirelessly with you on the fight for anti-scab legislation, is now working to slam shut shameful loopholes in that legislation that allow companies like Rogers to fly in scabs. No scabs means no scabs.
And as the new kid at school, not even enrolled yet in the House of Commons, I will be right there with them, reminding the government and the media who built this country and who this country ought to be serving. Because Canada is only as strong as its workers.
And of course, we don’t stop at legislation. That’s the work in the house. It is not the work of changing society.
We have been standing up for Canada’s place in the world, fighting for an independent economy and a foreign policy that is independent from that of the United States. A Canada that stands up against genocide in Gaza. A Canada that stands up against the chaotic, illegal, immoral, and senseless war with Iran started unilaterally by the US and Israel.
I was proud to be invited by Labour for Palestine and to speak at their side event yesterday, and I salute that work of Labour for Palestine in this house.
[applause]
We need a Canada that stands up for fundamental human rights for every precious human being on this planet. That’s the bigger fight. And it’s never been more urgent in our country.
That’s why we have been relentless in pointing out the everyday emergency that Canadians face today — the grinding unfairness of the cost of living and a system that makes life harder and harder for working people. The NDP is laser-focused these days on solutions that attack the cost of living crisis head-on.
As soon as I got to Ottawa after being elected here in Winnipeg, I called on the federal government to ban a new practice that is already widely in use in the US and is threatening to take hold here in Canada. Surveillance pricing. It’s exactly what it sounds like.
Big grocers and other retailers are teaming up with Big Tech — the broligarchs who stand astride our global economy — to jack up the prices you’re paying for food, for diapers, for whatever essentials you need to get by. And when I say you here, I mean you personally, using your personal data, like your search history, your loyalty points card, or even AI reading through your emails. They use anything they can to maximize the profits they extract from your shopping cart.
It’s happening across the retail landscape, especially on websites where you shop, but even in brick-and-mortar stores, thanks to those new little digital price tags that are popping up on shelves everywhere you go. It means that two people can be shown two completely different prices for the same item on the same website or in the same store at the same time. Right? You and me, and even more so the grocery stores where we simply go to buy —
It’s un-Canadian. It is downright creepy.
And that’s why Premier Wab Kinew’s NDP government here in Manitoba is already banning this predatory practice, leading as NDP governments always do. And that’s why NDP Premiers-in-waiting across the country, from Marit Stiles in Ontario to Carla Beck in Saskatchewan, are pushing for the same in their own provinces and territories.
And on the national stage, the NDP, as you can imagine, is not stopping at the grocery store. We’re going after all the tiny clubs of big corporations that dominate every sector of our economy. We are calling out monopoly control, price gouging, collusion, and the hoarding of mega profits in sector after sector.
The cost of living crisis is nothing less than an attack on the day-to-day lives of the working class of this country. Today, the market is failing to provide the essentials — the housing, food, communications, transportation, and health care that we need to survive — at a price we can afford on the wages we make. It is called market failure. And providing solutions for Canadians in a time of market failure is literally what government is for.
So, we’re calling for a public option for groceries that could lower the cost of food by 30 to 45%. A public option for smartphones and internet access to finally break up the telecom monopoly that charges Canadians the highest prices in the world for an essential 21st-century service and doesn’t pay their workers enough at the same time. And we are fighting to make real what our brothers and sisters and siblings from CUPW have been demanding for years: a public postal bank.
[applause]
Thank you for your leadership. And hey, I know what we read from our friends at the National Post in the mouths of corporate pundits, but these are not radical ideas. BC and Manitoba still have public auto insurance. Saskatchewan has a public telecom company — let’s hear it for SaskTel. May we revive it to its days of glory, as it has been enshittified by the current Saskatchewan government. Hell, Alberta has a public bank. And the US Armed Forces Commissary already sells public groceries to 8 million service members and their families.
Folks, this is not a radical set of proposals. It is time for a Canadian federal government that steps up and goddamn governs in the midst of a crisis for working people. That’s what we fight for day after day.
Friends, I’m not going to lie to you. Our party is in a pivotal moment. Our electoral high water mark was 15 years ago now, with Jack and the orange wave. Despite a smaller caucus, we’ve made big wins in recent years under Jagmeet Singh: dental care for 9 million Canadians, that breakthrough anti-scab legislation, the beginning, the beachhead of a real pharmacare plan here in Canada — which we are fighting for day after day, to extend that promise the Carney government made and is clearly backing off on, to make those pharmacare deals with all provinces.
But over the years, the NDP has lost touch with too much of the working class of this country. And now we need to show the humility, the self-reflection, and the honesty to rebuild a lot of critical relationships. That means hearing directly from union leaders, from people working on shop floors, on the front lines of health care and the care economy, and the countless jobs that keep our country running.
That means engaging, re-engaging with racialized workers, with immigrant communities, with queer and trans workers, with all the communities that are systemically marginalized and oppressed in our society.
It means — thank you — it means deepening relationships with the disability justice community, with so many Canadians who can’t work or need accommodations to work, and who have so much wisdom and creativity to offer our collective struggle.
So, I want to hear from you. All right, don’t be shy. It’s my job and it’s my privilege to have the hard conversations. I welcome them. So that together we can rebuild a party that serves the hopes and aspirations of millions of workers once again in this country.
That’s why in the months to come, I’ll keep travelling the country to meet workers in union halls and break rooms and job sites to hear your stories and keep sharing them with Canadians.
Notre parti peut revenir en collaborant avec vous. Je m’engage auprès de vous. Nous nous battrons à vos côtés pour bâtir ensemble un avenir meilleur pour les travailleurs et travailleuses canadiens. Ensemble, nous pouvons renforcer notre mouvement dans vos locaux syndicaux, vos centres de formation et sur les piquets de grève.
[switching back to English]
These are the spaces where labour organizers gather and strengthen our cause. It’s in these spaces, in your spaces, where our party can find its way again, shoulder to shoulder with workers.
Canada needs this party. A party that shows up on every picket line. A party that fights like hell against the grinding unfairness that’s forcing parents to skip meals so their kids can eat. And a party that understands that the greatest gift we can pass on from one generation to the next is a union card — a ticket to prosperity, to dignity, to a better life for all.
Thank you. Merci. Have a great rest of convention. Thank you for having me here today.
[applause]
Transcribed from YouTube auto-generated English captions on the CLC’s official livestream clip (uploaded May 14, 2026). Captions have been deduplicated and lightly cleaned for readability; speaker labels, paragraph breaks, and punctuation have been added editorially. Obvious caption mishearings (“brewligarchs” → “broligarchs”, “in shitified” → “enshittified”) have been corrected. Any remaining inaccuracies are artifacts of auto-captioning rather than the original speech.