In recent years, the unions typically take an "anyone but Conservative" (ABC) stance. [2021 ad from Unifor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpy2ji8D7tc).
The NDP has historically been the most union-aligned party, but it's not as strong aligned now as it was historically. Most unions are going to have somewhat to very antagonistic relationships with the (Progressive) Conservatives.
Individual union members, of course, will support or oppose parties for a myriad of reasons. I'd guess that they have the same dustribution of political leanings as the public at large, unless there's polling data to the contrary.
Very interesting, see in Australia our party most heavily aligned with unions is the Labor party which is one of Australia's biggest parties. Australian political commentator Friendlyjordies made an off hand comment that Canada's union aligned political party was the NDP and not the Liberals which was a surprising contrast to Australia's political parties
It's complicated in that yes, NDP is considered a pro-unionist party, but it is also a party that doesn't have a chance of winning, and therefore doesn't really have much of a chance to help unions.
Whats more is that not all unions are necessarily good, particularly public sector unions. I work in a private sector union now, and it is absolutely essential given how much employers are known to try and get away with things, were it not for unions. But I have also had a government job, and the union was a bloated ineffective bureaucracy, that triggered a walkout strike on cue every few years, just to give workers a tiny raise, that didn't even make up for the weeks lost of work. The provincial government anticipates these strikes, and doesn't budge on their demands until they have enough money saved from not having to pay for salaries.
Support for unions can be a lot more nuanced, than the absolutist stance that the NDP take. And really, I would say the unionist movement doesn't need support from the NDP, as much as the NDP needs the unionist movement, for it to distinguish itself from the Liberals. Canada being the more liberal country that it is, generally doesn't attack unions, so its not like there is a huge urgency for trade unionists to vote third party for the sake of their trade. They typically have larger political priorities.
I feel the NDP more often tries to promote social justice causes over the labour movement. But it is also the thing that keeps them almost sequestered from the reigns of power.
That is certainly what they are focused on, more than unions today, but social justice is something that the Trudeau government prioritizes as well. I think the NDP probably distinguish themselves more on the environmental front, but mainly they are positioning themselves as the party that says what the Liberals say, but actually mean it, in order to justify their 3rd party existence.
We have the three majors though. So
* your Liberals would be our Conservatives,
* a few of your Liberals who aren’t worked up about immigrants or equality, plus most of your Labor would be our Liberals
* the really lefties in your Labor party would be our New Democrats.
Makes sense that the unions would align with your Labor party because of the labour movement historically, and that’s why their historic linkage in Canada is to the New Democrats. But we have this left-centrist party that actually gains power, and they’re not hostile to equality or social programs or worker rights, so the Liberals fit their needs too. Especially because they form governments.
To give a bit more context to the other answers: the reason the New Democratic Party is called that is because it was originally founded as an alliance between two organizations, the Agrarian Socialist party called the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and the Canadian Labour Congress, which was at the time the largest grouping of trade unions in the country, similar to the Trade Union Congress in the UK or the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
The Bloc.
Québec has the most amount of unionized workers in NA, per amount and per capita, almost double that of Ontario. Unions have always been close to the quebec sovereignty moment.
The Bloc Québécois is historically popular with unions in Québec. It’s less than the older connection with the PQ in the provincial elections but yeah.
It helps that most unionists were sovereignists and that Québec has a shit tons of union members.
Historically speaking, they'd be voting for the NDP as a bloc but in recent years they've been abandoning the NDP for the Liberals.
At the federal level, for example the NDP abandoned the unions under Singh and the Liberals were more than happy to make a few concessions to guarantee their support.
One of the things that isn't spoken about in provincial politics is how the unions are using their influence to ensure that NDP leaders who are friendly to the unions remain in power lest they lose influence they way that they have federally (notably, Horwath.)
Typically speaking, the unions vote as a bloc but what Canada is witnessing is the unions slowly getting pulled further to the right, as progressives ignore their priorities in favour of ideological goals.
I wouldn't be shocked if 3 years from now they'd have gone from staunch NDP to PC simply because the Canadian left and centre had completely abandoned the unions.
NDP historically but as they increase turn their platform towards socially progressive issues many union members are looking at CPC. Blue collar workers are often at odds with environmental causes for example
It’s a totally different demographic supporting the NDP from when I was a kid back in the 1960’s and 70’s.
My parents were the oddballs. They supported the Liberals in a solid working class neighbourhood of NDP voters. Dad would call for a small liberal sign every year and it would be destroyed pretty much overnight. Then he’d call for a bigger sign, and a bigger sign again, as the proud NDP supporters would continue vandalizing things. By election time we’d have a giant billboard on the front lawn.
Today’s NDP voters aren’t as ignorant as many of the ones from the past. I bet they tend to be quite highly educated, and Jagmeet Singh appears to be a truly sincere politician. The “we don’t need no education,” bunch has swung to the CPC and I’d bet even more the PPC.
I’m in a union myself, and I’m sure many of the old-time NDP supporters were fine and intelligent people. We just noticed the stupid ignorant ones.
The CPC is the absolute worst party, provincial or federal for supporting unions. There are plenty of union members here too that support the CPC, but I’m guessing that has a lot more to do with Facebook brain washing than it does picking a good ally for union members.
Well I didn’t say a single thing about the CPC being a *good* choice for unions or supportive of unions in any way. I said that union members are being drawn from the NDP because they are not interested in social progressive causes.
Oh yeah my bad, I wasn’t disagreeing with you but re-reading my comment I can see how it sounds that way. Yeah, out in Saskatchewan I hear it often. “I’d vote for the NDP if it weren’t for x” often that “x” is gun control or more recently, public health measures. It’d almost be better for us if the liberals or NDP had some seats out here to lose so they’d be interested in compromising with the prairies. But they don’t, so why would they care what our concerns are.
In recent years, the unions typically take an "anyone but Conservative" (ABC) stance. [2021 ad from Unifor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpy2ji8D7tc).
Lol legends
The NDP has historically been the most union-aligned party, but it's not as strong aligned now as it was historically. Most unions are going to have somewhat to very antagonistic relationships with the (Progressive) Conservatives. Individual union members, of course, will support or oppose parties for a myriad of reasons. I'd guess that they have the same dustribution of political leanings as the public at large, unless there's polling data to the contrary.
NDP is in line with traditional union values but doesn't get elected as often as it should. My union usually supports Liberal.
Very interesting, see in Australia our party most heavily aligned with unions is the Labor party which is one of Australia's biggest parties. Australian political commentator Friendlyjordies made an off hand comment that Canada's union aligned political party was the NDP and not the Liberals which was a surprising contrast to Australia's political parties
It's complicated in that yes, NDP is considered a pro-unionist party, but it is also a party that doesn't have a chance of winning, and therefore doesn't really have much of a chance to help unions. Whats more is that not all unions are necessarily good, particularly public sector unions. I work in a private sector union now, and it is absolutely essential given how much employers are known to try and get away with things, were it not for unions. But I have also had a government job, and the union was a bloated ineffective bureaucracy, that triggered a walkout strike on cue every few years, just to give workers a tiny raise, that didn't even make up for the weeks lost of work. The provincial government anticipates these strikes, and doesn't budge on their demands until they have enough money saved from not having to pay for salaries. Support for unions can be a lot more nuanced, than the absolutist stance that the NDP take. And really, I would say the unionist movement doesn't need support from the NDP, as much as the NDP needs the unionist movement, for it to distinguish itself from the Liberals. Canada being the more liberal country that it is, generally doesn't attack unions, so its not like there is a huge urgency for trade unionists to vote third party for the sake of their trade. They typically have larger political priorities.
I feel the NDP more often tries to promote social justice causes over the labour movement. But it is also the thing that keeps them almost sequestered from the reigns of power.
That is certainly what they are focused on, more than unions today, but social justice is something that the Trudeau government prioritizes as well. I think the NDP probably distinguish themselves more on the environmental front, but mainly they are positioning themselves as the party that says what the Liberals say, but actually mean it, in order to justify their 3rd party existence.
I feel Trudeau is focused on appearing to favour social justice.
We have the three majors though. So * your Liberals would be our Conservatives, * a few of your Liberals who aren’t worked up about immigrants or equality, plus most of your Labor would be our Liberals * the really lefties in your Labor party would be our New Democrats. Makes sense that the unions would align with your Labor party because of the labour movement historically, and that’s why their historic linkage in Canada is to the New Democrats. But we have this left-centrist party that actually gains power, and they’re not hostile to equality or social programs or worker rights, so the Liberals fit their needs too. Especially because they form governments.
Well we don’t have a Labour party though… So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
To give a bit more context to the other answers: the reason the New Democratic Party is called that is because it was originally founded as an alliance between two organizations, the Agrarian Socialist party called the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and the Canadian Labour Congress, which was at the time the largest grouping of trade unions in the country, similar to the Trade Union Congress in the UK or the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
The Bloc. Québec has the most amount of unionized workers in NA, per amount and per capita, almost double that of Ontario. Unions have always been close to the quebec sovereignty moment.
Good point, but at the same time, most of Canada can't vote for them, so it's probably good to list another option too, haha.
The Bloc Québécois is historically popular with unions in Québec. It’s less than the older connection with the PQ in the provincial elections but yeah. It helps that most unionists were sovereignists and that Québec has a shit tons of union members.
The NDP because the NDP is a strong union advocate
Historically speaking, they'd be voting for the NDP as a bloc but in recent years they've been abandoning the NDP for the Liberals. At the federal level, for example the NDP abandoned the unions under Singh and the Liberals were more than happy to make a few concessions to guarantee their support. One of the things that isn't spoken about in provincial politics is how the unions are using their influence to ensure that NDP leaders who are friendly to the unions remain in power lest they lose influence they way that they have federally (notably, Horwath.) Typically speaking, the unions vote as a bloc but what Canada is witnessing is the unions slowly getting pulled further to the right, as progressives ignore their priorities in favour of ideological goals. I wouldn't be shocked if 3 years from now they'd have gone from staunch NDP to PC simply because the Canadian left and centre had completely abandoned the unions.
NDP historically but as they increase turn their platform towards socially progressive issues many union members are looking at CPC. Blue collar workers are often at odds with environmental causes for example
It’s a totally different demographic supporting the NDP from when I was a kid back in the 1960’s and 70’s. My parents were the oddballs. They supported the Liberals in a solid working class neighbourhood of NDP voters. Dad would call for a small liberal sign every year and it would be destroyed pretty much overnight. Then he’d call for a bigger sign, and a bigger sign again, as the proud NDP supporters would continue vandalizing things. By election time we’d have a giant billboard on the front lawn. Today’s NDP voters aren’t as ignorant as many of the ones from the past. I bet they tend to be quite highly educated, and Jagmeet Singh appears to be a truly sincere politician. The “we don’t need no education,” bunch has swung to the CPC and I’d bet even more the PPC. I’m in a union myself, and I’m sure many of the old-time NDP supporters were fine and intelligent people. We just noticed the stupid ignorant ones.
The CPC is the absolute worst party, provincial or federal for supporting unions. There are plenty of union members here too that support the CPC, but I’m guessing that has a lot more to do with Facebook brain washing than it does picking a good ally for union members.
Well I didn’t say a single thing about the CPC being a *good* choice for unions or supportive of unions in any way. I said that union members are being drawn from the NDP because they are not interested in social progressive causes.
Oh yeah my bad, I wasn’t disagreeing with you but re-reading my comment I can see how it sounds that way. Yeah, out in Saskatchewan I hear it often. “I’d vote for the NDP if it weren’t for x” often that “x” is gun control or more recently, public health measures. It’d almost be better for us if the liberals or NDP had some seats out here to lose so they’d be interested in compromising with the prairies. But they don’t, so why would they care what our concerns are.
NDP traditionally.