Yesterday was the perfect day to join the Labour Day celebrations in Sudbury. A big thank you to Jessica Montgomery and the whole team at the Sudbury and District Labour Council for a well-organized and fun event. Thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of people who came to join us with their families and friends. There were lots of education and health care workers that came out.

They had a clear, united message for this government: First, repeal Bill 124. It is illegal, discriminatory, disrespectful and it demoralizes our tired and burnt-out health care heroes. Make PSW a career, so we can ensure quality home care and long-term care, and stop the privatization of the Ontario health care system.

Many labour retirees were there, some of them quite elderly. They are scared. Bill 7 is causing seniors to second-guess whether they should go to the hospital when they’re sick for fear of being labelled ALC. As you know, Speaker, Bill 7 takes away the rights of frail, elderly people and allows the government to move them to a long-term-care home focused on profit, not on quality care. In northern Ontario, being transferred away from home means a lot of hardship.

Everyone at the Labour Day celebration agreed: Solidarity is the way forward, and the NDP will always stand in solidarity with workers. Solidarity forever.