September 26, 2015
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Tuesday (Sept. 22), Gerard Creces, federal New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate for Huron-Bruce, was endorsed as the candidate of choice by both the Avon Maitland and Bluewater District Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) affiliates.
"I'm pleased to tell you that the Avon Maitland ETFO Local executive met and wholeheartedly endorsed your campaign," said Lori Martin of the Avon Maitland ETFO.
Julie Stanley, president of the Bluewater ETFO Local, said that at the provincial ETFO annual meeting in August, the delegation voted to endorse the New Democratic Party in the 2015 federal election.
"Next week, we will be providing this information to our members along with other election material," she said. "While we recognize that voting is a democratic and personal choice, we are asking our members to consider voting NDP in the upcoming election."
The two locals represent all elementary public school teachers in the riding – 600 teachers in Avon Maitland and 700 teachers in the Bluewater District School Board.
Creces will be speaking to Avon Maitland members at their annual general meeting Oct. 6.
> Jim Vance, president of the Huron District Labour Council, also formally endorsed Creces at an NDP event held in Blyth Wednesday (Sept. 23). The labour council encompasses members from a number of union locals in Huron County including Unifor, CUPE, CAW, SEIU, postal workers, teachers, custodians, education workers and health care workers. The labour council sees the NDP platform as the strongest plan for Canada and for its workers moving forward.
Friday (Sept. 25), Creces and NDP and labour council members walked in solidarity with picketing Unifor workers at a Goderich rest home. The Unifor Local has not had a contract since last December.
Under Elections Canada legislation, unions may no longer make donations or pay their members to work on an election campaign. But endorsement means they can use internal resources to share campaign information and social media with members, and to encourage union members to campaign actively as volunteers. Already many union members from the labour council have been volunteering in a variety of roles within the campaign.
The Society of Energy Professionals, most of whom are based at the Bruce Nuclear facility, are also actively involved in the NDP campaign.
Creces is both humbled by the endorsements and excited about what this means for the campaign moving forward.
"The NDP has long been the party of the working class," said Creces. "Though it's the working class that suffers most in (prime minister Stephen) Harper's Canada. These endorsements mean a great deal to me, as they reinforce our party's commitment to ensuring fairness, equality and security in the workplace, as well as our desire to bring jobs back to Huron-Bruce. All jobs have dignity and all workers deserve respect."
For more information about the Creces campaign, contact gerard.creces@ndp.ca or call the Goderich office at 519-612-2200.
Written ByLiz Dadson is the founder and editor of the Kincardine Record and has been in the news business since 1986.
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