12 labour leaders endorse NDP candidate ahead of Elmwood-Transcona byelection
Leila Dance looking to win seat in longtime party stronghold vacated by Daniel Blaikie earlier this year
Labour leaders are throwing their support behind the NDP candidate in a looming federal byelection set to take place this fall in Winnipeg.
Leila Dance, the party's candidate for the Sept. 16 Elmwood-Transcona election, was endorsed Thursday by over a dozen local, provincial and national union leaders.
"I think the support today shows that we aren't going to let anything change here in the riding, we're going to stay an NDP riding and we're going to fight for people in this area," said Dance.
One of the leaders in attendance Thursday was Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
During a speech at Thursday's press conference, Bruske said the Conservative Party of Canada have "repeatedly shown us that they side with bosses and the billionaires."
She also said the Conservatives don't side with "everyday workers."
"We know what Conservatives do when they're in power, they cut things that people need," she said during the press conference. "They cut health care, they underfund child care and they look out for their corporate friends, leaving everyday families to struggle."
Dave McPhail, business manager with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 2085, was also at Thursday's news conference and said it's very important the longtime NDP riding stay with the party. He also said he attended the news conference on behalf of himself as a party member and the union.
McPhail said if elected, Leila Dance would represent the riding "with the same passion," as its former MP Daniel Blaikie, who is also an IBEW member.
Other endorsements for the NDP from labour leaders, according to a news release from the party, are:
- Kevin Rebeck, President, Manitoba Federation of Labour.
- Melissa Dvorak, President, Winnipeg Labour Council.
- Jeff Traeger, President, UFCW Local 832.
- Richard Ferris, Assistant Business Manager, IBEW Local 435.
- Chris Scott, President, ATU Local 1505.
- Margaret Schroeder, President, CUPE Local 204.
- Marc Lafond, Business Manager, OE987.
- Bernie Wood, Special Representative, IAMAW.
- Paul Moist, President, Manitoba Federation of Union Retirees.
- Karl Hollinshead, Business Manager/FS, International Association of Heat and Frost
Insulators and Allied Workers, Local 99.
Conservatives also aiming for union vote
But the Conservatives are also battling for the labour vote in the upcoming byelection.
The party is running Colin Reynolds, an electrician who is also a member of IBEW 2085.
Reynolds was tapped by the party earlier this month and said the current federal government is responsible for the rising cost of living. He also said crime is running rampant in Winnipeg in a social media video posted at the time of his campaign announcement.
McPhail was asked Thursday why IBEW 2085 is endorsing Dance rather than Reynolds, but he said he wouldn't comment on that.
"Colin has a right to go with what he wants," said McPhail. "He still remains a proud union member … that's his view and opinion and I think he's entitled to that."
The Conservatives held a rally last weekend when the byelection was announced, which included Reynolds and party leader Pierre Poilievre.
The Tory leader promised to axe the carbon tax, make housing more affordable, invest more in trades programs and create jobs among other things.
In a statement to CBC News, Reynolds said he's a proud union member and a Conservative. He said he is running with Pierre Poilievre who is fighting to axe the carbon tax, build homes and stop crime.
The governing Liberals are running Ian MacIntyre in the September byelection, who also has union experience.
MacIntyre spent 24 years as a teacher with the River East Transcona School Division and was previously the president of the Manitoba Teachers' Society.
In an interview Thursday, MacIntyre said his experience as a union rep and with the Teachers' Society would serve him well if elected.
"My role as MP will be to work with unions, work with union members, work with business and small business as well as the residents to make sure that we're doing the best for the residents of Elmwood-Transcona."
Nic Geddert will run for the Green Party of Canada, according to the party's website.
Meanwhile, Paul Thomas, a professor emeritus of political studies at the University of Manitoba, said the riding has long been seen as a working class community where people work hard labour and often have unionized jobs. However, he said he's told people lately that there's been a shift happening.
"It's not that those traditional features of that riding have disappeared," he said. "It's just that they're being diluted somewhat by the emergence of new parts of the constituency with different types of people occupying bigger homes, on larger lots in suburban-like developments that now exist within the constituency."
The Elmwood-Transcona riding has long belonged to the NDP and the Blaikie family. Daniel Blaikie held the seat for nearly a decade before resigning earlier this year for a role advising Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew's government and his late father, Bill, was the MP for almost 30 years before that.
While the riding has been mostly NDP orange, it was briefly Tory blue from 2011 to 2015.
Thomas said he's expecting it be a close race between the two parties. He said historically, the federal Liberals don't play a factor in the riding.
The Liberals only received 14 per cent of the vote in the last federal election, he said.
"That means if you don't like Poilievre, if you're frightened by what Poilievre stands for, then you can't really vote for the Liberal in this contest, you have to vote NDP," he said. "So that's another factor that's gone into this."
Residents weigh in
Some area residents weighed in on the upcoming byelection at a Transcona farmers market Thursday.
Gordon Kube said he's thinking about "getting rid of Pierre Poilievre" in the upcoming byelection and would like to whoever wins make improvements to the streets in Transcona.
Kube said he's lived in the area for 40 years and plans to vote in the byelection.
Joseph Tyson also lives in the riding and normally votes conservative. He said he'd like to see the party win back the riding.
"It always goes NDP," he said. "I wish some people would give further thought to their consideration of voting and what the Conservatives represent in this area."
Natalya Sovinska said she's still undecided on who to vote for.
"It depends on what promises they will make for us," she said. "Depends on my kind of handy to-do list."
With files from Alana Cole and Gavin Axelrod