The Ontario Federation of Labour is proud to endorse Jagmeet Singh and the NDP, the only party in it for you, for working Canadians, and not for corporate CEOs and the ultra-rich.

The NDP has always been the only party that consistently listens to and best represents the needs of working people across this country. It is New Democrats, led by Jagmeet Singh, who would govern for the many.

On Oct. 21, Ontarians have an opportunity to set Canada's government on a path that will ensure an economy that works for everyone, that will tackle the climate crisis by regulating Canada's largest industrial polluters, provide head-to-toe health care: pharma care, mental health care, and dental care for all, and tackle wealth inequality by applying a 1 per cent tax on fortunes over $20 million, raising billions for public services.

It is time to elect a government that puts equity and inclusion at the forefront.

Working people know how hard it is for families to make ends meet. Canada's next government must ensure decent laws to stop the growth of precarious jobs that leave working people struggling to meet basic needs. The NDP has made a commitment to a $15 federal minimum wage and a living wage within their first mandate. The Canada-wide reality is that there are twice as many people working for minimum wage now as there were 20 years ago.

In the last 18 months, Ontarians have learned first-hand just how much social and economic damage a Conservative government can do.

Premier Doug Ford is well on his way to tearing apart the social safety net in the province. He is sacrificing the environment for profit. One of the first things the Conservatives did was to cancel the cap-and trade program. Then, they froze the minimum wage at $14 an hour. Cuts to public services just keep on coming: cuts to health care, cuts to program funding for kids with autism, cuts to education.

Many students have been left unable to graduate on schedule because their schools don't have funds to deliver the courses they need. Many students, unable to pay tuition due to government cuts to post-secondary funding, have been forced to withdraw from university and college.

Andrew Scheer will govern Canada with the same philosophy as Doug Ford, and poses a threat to human rights as well — he has refused to retract his own homophobic comments, and has stood by candidates who hold right-wing extremist views.

The Liberal Party has also failed working people. As photos of the prime minister have shown, the Liberals do not always practice what they preach. They campaign left but govern right. The Liberals also lied about electoral reform, pushed Canada's first Indigenous Attorney General out of Cabinet and their party, and made it clear they believe in one set of laws for corporations like SNC Lavalin but another for the rest of us.

Far from addressing the climate crisis, the Liberals exempted most of Canada's oil and gas industry from their carbon tax and bought a pipeline — a purchase that ties Canada to the past while energy technologies change. They have poured out nice words, but failed to actually fix the long-term crisis of a lack of clean, safe drinking water on reserves across Canada.

This election, Ontarians can protect all Canadian families from empty Liberal promises and from Conservative cuts to the public services everyone depends on. We can ensure that working peoples' concerns are represented and put Canada on the path to fairness and prosperity for all.

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Let's raise our expectations. It is time that we show courage at the voting booth and choose the Canada we want for ourselves, our loved ones, and one another. Let's elect a Prime Minister we can all be proud of. Let's elect the NDP.

Chris Buckley is president of the Ontario Federation of Labour

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