Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on behalf of the New Democratic Party, to congratulate my friend, neighbour and constituent, Mr. Paul Moist, who was elected yesterday the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees at its convention in Quebec City.
CUPE members elected Paul to succeed Judy Darcy as the national president of Canada's largest union. We look forward to working with Paul in representing the interests of some 535,000 public sector workers who are members of CUPE.
I have every confidence that Paul will build on his union successes by supporting members at the bargaining table, building strong local unions, stopping privatization, pushing for increased funding of medicare, and other public services.
Mr. Moist has a long history with CUPE and the labour movement. He joined his union at age 19 in 1975 as a greenhouse gardener in Winnipeg's parks and recreation department. A well respected union leader in Manitoba, a province with deep roots in the labour movement, Mr. Moist has dedicated his life to elevating the standards, wages and working conditions of the people he represented.
Our party wishes to congratulate him in his new role.