PIPSC president Debi Daviau targets Pierre Poilievre in Carleton riding
CBC News | Posted: October 14, 2015 5:41 PM | Last Updated: October 16, 2015
Union representing around 57,000 government workers asking them to not vote Conservative
The head of a major public servant's union went door to door in Carleton this morning, hoping to change the minds of voters who have traditionally supported Conservatives such as Pierre Poilievre.
Debi Daviau and other members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) held a photo op in Manotick, followed by a march to Poilievre's office and a door-knocking campaign to raise their concerns about the Conservative government's treatment of government workers.
She said PIPSC is asking its members to vote for anyone other than the Conservatives, as the NDP, Liberals and Greens have been supportive of the issues they care about.
"We've never backed any party and we continue not to back any party, but this government's record on public services has been so atrocious that we feel we were left with no choice but to do what we need to do to affect change," she said.
"If the Liberal candidate is leading in the polls when it comes to election day our members are going to know that's where they'll need to cast their vote to make a difference."
Daviau said Poilievre has been "particularly hateful" of public services and they initially planned to demonstrate in his riding as a symbolic move, but now they believe they can affect the vote enough to elect someone else.
Staff at Poilievre's office said he was out knocking on doors and was not available for an interview.
Carleton is a new riding, made of what remains of the old riding of Nepean-Carleton after the new riding Nepean was carved out.
Poilievre, who has represented Nepean-Carleton since 2004, is running against the Green Party's Deborah Coyne, the NDP's KC Larocque and the Liberal Party's Chris Rodgers.