With the provincial election campaign in full swing, IUOE Local 793 has once again announced its full endorsement of Doug Ford and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party for the February 27 provincial election.
Ford personally accepted the endorsement during a campaign stop at Local 793’s head office on Monday. Also in attendance was David Piccini, who served as Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training, and Skills Development in the former government, Oakville MPP Stephen Crawford and Mayor of Oakville Rob Burton.
With less than three weeks to go before polling day, Local 793 Business Manager Mike Gallagher said that Ford had earned the Union’s backing by following through on promises to build infrastructure and protect Ontario’s workers.
“I have great confidence in an Ontario led by Premier Ford and in our country to stand together, as we have always done, and continue to build our province,” Gallagher said. “So, let’s send him back to Queen’s Park with a bigger majority than ever so that he can stand up for people not just in Ontario but across the country and make sure that our U.S. friends get the message that we are not for sale.”
Ford, who used the occasion to announce a plan to add a further $1 billion to the $1.5 billion already invested through the Skills Development Fund to increase training opportunities in the trades, said, “I’m so grateful for the support of Mike Gallagher, Dave Turple, and the more than 20,000 members of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793. Their endorsement of our plan to protect Ontario is so important and we’ll always have their backs.
“Our skilled trades workers are the backbone of Ontario’s economy and by expanding training and apprenticeship opportunities we’re creating pathways for young people to build rewarding careers and ensuring Ontario continues to have the best trained workforce in the entire world.”
With his government working hard to attract more workers to the skilled trades, Ford grabbed the opportunity to meet Local 793’s apprentices, who had earlier given him a warm welcome to Oakville. He spent time chatting, listening to their stories and posing for pictures.
Ahead of Ford’s trip to talk tariffs in Washington D.C. on Wednesday in his role as Chair of the Council of the Federation, Business Manager Gallagher presented both him and Piccini with commemorative coins that had originally been awarded to Union members from both Canada and the U.S. who had worked on the Gordie Howe International Bridge Project.
“I believe it’s a strong symbol for the challenges we’re facing at the moment,” Gallagher said. “We constructed that bridge for trade, and we’d like to present it to Ford and Piccini, hoping they can carry it as a good luck charm to help navigate these rough waters we’re currently dealing with in trade.”
The irony that the coin represented cross-border cooperation on a project designed to boost trade was not lost on Ontario’s leader.
“What President Trump doesn’t understand – but he’s going to find out quick – is how resilient we are, how strong we are and how proud we are to be Canadians. We’ll do whatever it takes to protect Ontario workers and protect their livelihoods,” Ford said.
You can read the PC Party press release from Monday’s event here.